Valentine's Day is an easy day to scoff at and get all cynical about and say derogative things about that make everyone laugh because not only are they thinking the same things but they feel the same way. It's truly a Hallmark holiday. And yet...

It's still a day when, unless you live in an underground bunker or cabin in the wilderness, you are surrounded by screaming commercial messages that YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN LOVE AND ISN'T IT ROMANTIC. Yes it's crass and we all love to hate it, but It takes the hardest heart and the world's most cynical cynic not to be affected by it just the teensiest bit. I mean, come on, everyone wants to be loved. Everyone likes the giddy feeling of being in love. And I refuse to believe that there is anyone out there who doesn't like to get flowers. And chocolate is yummy, damn it! Don't get me started on lingerie.

So, a minute ago, when I said that everyone was laughing because they feel the same way, what I really was getting at is that everyone wants to be all hip and cynical about Valentine's Day but deep down we're all reduced to our prepubescent selves praying that our crush of the month is going to put a cut-out cartoon card on our desk.

I don't think there is anything wrong with having a day to celebrate love, but remember, there are many kinds of love. Why limit ourselves to the narrow image of Valentine's Day as a day when boys bring flowers to girls and take them out to dinner at expensive restaurants and buy them sparkly things and give them cheesy cards printed in China? Why not make today an opportunity to tell a friend how much she means to you? Why not take some chocolates to the nice neighbor who always picks up your mail when you go away? Why not buy a bunch of yummy treats for the dog who is always happy to see you when you wake up in the morning? Why not do something nice for YOURSELF?!

In my travels around the web over the past couple of days I've run across some writing on the subject I liked, so I thought I'd share:

Gah! Pink Hearts!
Dianne Sylvan shares some insight and practical tips on how to celebrate the person whose happiness should be most important to you: you.

It's a chance to honor and adore ourselves the way no significant other can ever honor us.  It's a chance to be utterly, perfectly selfish, in the most lovely sense of the word, which is especially beneficial for women, who in our culture are supposed to be all things to all people (meaning men and children) and "have it all."  Well, you don't have it all, and you can't.  Where would you put it?  In the end, you've got you.  Gorgeous, wonderful you.  All the romance in the world is useless if you don't love yourself first.  All the generosity in the world is hollow and meaningless if it comes from a heart full of self-hate.  If you truly want to change the world, start with the person holding the mouse right now.

I really love you; want a hamburger?
Jon Carroll, a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, writes of enduring love and what Valentine's Day looks like when you've been married a long time.

See, this is the thing about being married a long time: A lot of it is scripted. Every year we have the same Valentine's Day conversation, and it has the same resolution, and on Feb. 15 we still love each other, because it's not about the heart, an organ that mostly pumps blood; it's about the brain, where persistence and passion and patience reside.

We Feel Fine
Okay, so this site isn't really about Valentine's Day but about tracking human emotion around the world. Using very complicated science, the creators of this site have built a system that searches blog entries for the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling," then combines the expressions with images. Tres cool.

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what's on our blogs, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds. We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.

Donuts and cupcakes with pink icing for everyone today!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:01 PM