Valentine's Day or Not?

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. Since I don't believe in the archaic and somewhat unhealthy obsession our culture propagates, created by businesses, with fantasy concepts of romantic love. Valentine's Day was and is an artificial holiday exploiting sentiments about romantic love that began as a way for wives of aristocracy to cover their infidelities involving the knights who served their husbands. The idea and symbolism of the knight in shining armor, the saving of the damsel in distress, and the giving of cards and flowers as tokens of love and courtship dates back to the Medieval era. These symbols and gestures, along with the idea of chivalry were created to conceal affection and affairs in discretion and covert symbols. Over the many years so many stories, fairytales, Disney, and many others have constantly embedded this into our cultural identity and ideology about love. Various elements, of course, were added or tweaked by many sources including: jewelers, florists, greeting cards makers, and confectioners or chocolateers, and restaurants. For all of these businesses their motivation is clear, to make money. Real love should never require a holiday. Valentine's Day is not really about romance or love, but about businesses exploiting cultural indoctrination and misconceptions.

So, instead, I celebrate a real legitimate holiday. On the 14th of February in 1912 the US congress officially admitted the territory of Arizona into the union. Today I celebrate Arizona Statehood Day.

Arizona Statehood Day. The flag of the State of Arizona.

© 2015, Joshua Michail