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He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
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:: Today's soundtrack: Peggy Lee "Fever" ::
So, Valentine's Day is upon us once again.
You know, I have a similar issue with Valentine's as I do with those other "designated gift giving days" (see Rant 41). There shouldn't be a day set aside for you to tell the people you love that, yes, you do in fact love them and here's a gift to prove it. What the hell, right? If you love some one, you should tell them anyway and a little more frequently than once a year, I would think. And you shouldn't have to supplement your love with a gift, either. That just makes it, to me leastways, seem like giving your love isn't enough somehow; that love itself is meaningless without the material gift to back it up. Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer in love, so please don't lump me in with all of the other single Valentine's nay-sayers who are all anti-romance. I love love. I think it's great and I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes down to it, really, but if some woman were to ever say to me "if you really loved me you'd buy me ___" then, well I would have to question how much she really loved me and not my ability to buy her things.
Surely you notice how much the frequency of jewelry adverts on the telly has increased for the Valentine's season? What does that tell us? You don't love your woman unless you buy her diamonds? Shut the fuck up.
And why aren't the women pressured into buying their MAN expensive items for Valentine's? Where's my Rolex watch (unless no one's ever loved me...)? For some reason men need to prove their love with shiny things, but women get a pass? That feels a little out dated and archaic to me.
Instead of promoting love with Valentine's, I think we're actually promoting the pressure to say "I love you" when some people may in fact be better off NOT saying what they don't mean or are unsure if that's how they feel. I don't know about all of you (all two of you), but if I say "I love you," then I sure as hell mean it and am not jerking around. So, it just makes me ill that some people get pressured into saying it just because it's freakin' Valentine's Day. Do you really want to MAKE someone say they love you if they don't?
I guess what I mean is that if you tell the people you love that you love them regularly and buy them occasional things "just because," then Valentine's wouldn't even have to exist. There shouldn't HAVE to be a "holiday" FORCING everyone and their uncle's goldfish to declare their love for someone if they truly love them. Think about that for a moment.
William (spreading the love)
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