I am really tired. I spent yesterday digging dirt in Werribee and today investigating an algal bloom on the Mornington Peninsula. Then I stayed at work until late. I’m chasing deadlines, you see. I don’t mind, really. I’m storing the extra time up my sleeve.
It’s Valentine’s Day today. I see lots of women carrying flowers and balloons. There’s something sad about Valentine’s Day. When I see a woman carrying this kind of gift, I think, “Maybe she’s proud to have a partner who has passed the Valentine’s Day test,” or “Did he buy it because she’d get mad at him if he didn’t do what all the other men are supposedly doing?”
More than any other occasion, I think Valentine’s Day is about peer pressure. Maybe because the presents are so useless and therefore, signs of the triumph of commercialisation.
I guess… I’d like Valentine’s Day a whole lot more if the emphasis was on hugs rather than flowers, a shared dinner rather than balloons.
I agree about the peer pressure thing. A while ago, when you blogged your Guide to a Successful Relationship, you said that it’s important to not get hung up on comparing your relationship to everyone else’s. I think the failure of most people to follow this rule is what’s causing all the pressure. Quite often a girl wants to show that she’s more successful in love than her colleagues and coworkers by getting more roses and chocolate, and she’s not shy about directly conveying the pressure onto her boyfriend. Sometimes a girl just needs to learn that the amount of love her boyfriend feels for her is not proportional to how much money he spends on her.
It’s noble of you to speak against the status quo regarding Valentine’s day, when it’s generally the females who benefit from it.
I got a box of chocolates for Valentines Day! 🙂 But it was from a seven year old girl…sigh…
Jonathan