V-Day
What do you guys think about Valentine's Day? I usually loathe it, mostly because it feels like yet another intrusion upon our most intimate relationships by "the man". Every personal moment we have in life has a corresponding Hallmark card to go along with it. Yuck.
And we all know "the man" plays to the lowest common denominator. In Hallmark world, love is either nauseatingly romantic ("Your eyes are as blue as the deepest ocean, your skin the smooth sand...") or pithily funny ("Ball and Chain, blah blah blah..."). I think we all know a truer romantic sentiment would be along the lines of, "I still love you this morning, regardless of the fact you bathed me in your fart-air all night." Alas, we are taught that our professions of love need to be more profound and incorporate metaphor and other literary devices (written by someone else, no less) to really express our sentiment adequately. Double Yuck.
Notice how I started this all of by stating I "usually" loathe it? Well, it seems that for some reason this year I feel a little differently. I think perhaps it is because I am growing out of (read: desperately clinging on to) my idealistic youth in which everything was black and white. Where I used to think, "Those short-sighted idiots are cutting social spending," I now think, "I see where they're coming from, but they are still short-sighted idiots."
Of late, instead of, "Valentine's Day is just a multi-national money-maker and we're all just pawns," I now finding myself wondering, "Hey, maybe I can claim this holiday and make my own ideas up about what it means." After all, love and chocolate make the world go round, right?
To risk sounding really sappy and too sweet for an early February morning, the more real expressions of love, the merrier. Whether that means a heartfelt poem on a sympathy card a la Nicola's beau Linval (still makes me laugh), a home cooked meal, or having a happy heart while doing an activity you usually hate, if what you're putting out there is genuine and doesn't pander to an industrialized ideal of love, your gesture does a lot for the worldwide positive/negative quotient. So get to it!
In summary: I hate V-Day, but I'm starting to come around to it. Likely because I am getting older and lamer and wiser. Sigh.
To reward you for reading this far, a great alt-hip hop song I discovered via hula seventy:
And we all know "the man" plays to the lowest common denominator. In Hallmark world, love is either nauseatingly romantic ("Your eyes are as blue as the deepest ocean, your skin the smooth sand...") or pithily funny ("Ball and Chain, blah blah blah..."). I think we all know a truer romantic sentiment would be along the lines of, "I still love you this morning, regardless of the fact you bathed me in your fart-air all night." Alas, we are taught that our professions of love need to be more profound and incorporate metaphor and other literary devices (written by someone else, no less) to really express our sentiment adequately. Double Yuck.
Notice how I started this all of by stating I "usually" loathe it? Well, it seems that for some reason this year I feel a little differently. I think perhaps it is because I am growing out of (read: desperately clinging on to) my idealistic youth in which everything was black and white. Where I used to think, "Those short-sighted idiots are cutting social spending," I now think, "I see where they're coming from, but they are still short-sighted idiots."
Of late, instead of, "Valentine's Day is just a multi-national money-maker and we're all just pawns," I now finding myself wondering, "Hey, maybe I can claim this holiday and make my own ideas up about what it means." After all, love and chocolate make the world go round, right?
To risk sounding really sappy and too sweet for an early February morning, the more real expressions of love, the merrier. Whether that means a heartfelt poem on a sympathy card a la Nicola's beau Linval (still makes me laugh), a home cooked meal, or having a happy heart while doing an activity you usually hate, if what you're putting out there is genuine and doesn't pander to an industrialized ideal of love, your gesture does a lot for the worldwide positive/negative quotient. So get to it!
In summary: I hate V-Day, but I'm starting to come around to it. Likely because I am getting older and lamer and wiser. Sigh.
To reward you for reading this far, a great alt-hip hop song I discovered via hula seventy:
(reminds me of "The Light" by Common feat. Erykah Badu)
Hey Jesse... well I've always kinda liked Valentine's Day... but the downside for me is that it's usually a bit disappointing because who doesn't want to (but never does) come home to wine, rose petals and lots of chocolate????? You're right though - it's another opportunity to break out the love we have to give to the people in our lives. I totally agree on the Hallmark world thing... pretty lame. But as we are different people, to sum it up - I'm am less cynical, and more passive on these "special days". However, I am happy to hear you're getting wise in your old age... :p
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