Maybe because Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday designed to boost the economy in the post-Xmas shopping lull (particularly considering that fresh flowers are expensive enough in the northern hemisphere during the winter).
Not to mention the fact that if you have someone special in your life, you can celebrate your love at any time of the year, not just when the Powers That Be (PTBs) tell you too.
Oh, and if you're single by choice or happen to be single on February 14, there is nothing freakishly wrong with that, even though the aforementioned PTBs will do their best into guilting you into being "in a relationship" (even if that relationship is wracked by pain, tension, insecurity and delusion), so that their precious
We don't celebrate Valentine's Day. Never have, never will. Thank God.
Related post: Getting into the spirit
Technorati Tags: Valentine's Day, Straits Times
Labels: Personal, Pop culture, Singapore stories
8 Comments:
Surely u mean Urban?
Kudos to those who dun buy into the V-Day hype.
To V Day I say BAH. I say BAH to V day.
:)
To V Day I say BAH. I say BAH to V day.
:)
Still, it's quite funny to see couples walking around in orchard road with flowers and matching tshirts. It's almost a parade. Where have they been hiding for the past 364 days?
You sound bitter.
Nardac > Do I? I'm not, really.
I think what bothers me so much about Valentine's Day is the number of people who whinge about how much things cost and the stress of planning a memorable and romantic evening. But if you suggest to them that they take it easy or, better yet, ignore V-Day, they balk. Pah!
In the Singapore context, I think V-Day is particularly pernicious because it's become another one of those social rituals that people perceive as something that they must do, even though it's for no good reason. Just as one's life must be punctuated by the stages of acquire significant other-propose by suggesting purchase of an HDB flat-throw Chinese wedding banquet dinner-have babies asap to take advantage of Baby Bonus-acquire a maid (or two)-upgrade from HDB to condo, etc. --- so it has come to mean that people in a relationship must celebrate V-Day with gusto. You only have to look at all the teenagers proffering stalks of roses and arranging dates at mediocre cafes serving up a V-Day menu that's only marginally better than food court fare. Not to mention all the teenagers or adults without dates who are made to feel the worse for it (for no good reason, I say again).
I know I sound like a ranty old woman, but what I'm trying to get at is the emptiness of meaning in this, among all the other "special occasions" that people celebrate. There is so much meaning that we can make for ourselves in our lives and our relationships --- why allow ourselves to be manipulated by a heartless marketing strategy?
ahhh...
well, it does sound like you live in a much more judgemental environment than I thought. Still, it comes as no surprise, really, everything that you say. I think this pressure exists in so many different forms around us, the pressure to conform to expectations that somehow promote something that has nothing to do with the poetry of living.
I like V-Day a lot, but not actually on Feb 14.
I figured that Urban cover story was just a way for the ST reporters to try to get themselves dates.
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