Every Day Should Be Valentine's Day!

I've heard a couple of people say that "Every day should be Valentine's Day." Perhaps those people own florists or chocolate shops or expensive restaurants. Because I know if I owned such a store I'd be psyched if every day was some basically syrupy, contrived, Hallmark-card pseudo-holiday designed in modern times to emotionally and socially extort money out of individuals who's only crime was being in a "relationship." But seriously, Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

If the purchase of wildly overpriced candies, flowers and other basically unnecessary gifts are the guarantees of true love, then I guess that true love didn't exist at all before the invention of chocolate, cultivated flowers or Zagat ratings. Which I doubt, because I'm sure cavemen and early Bronze Age man loved their women ferociously and showed it by presenting their honeys with a twig, seashell or small chunk of animal flesh at least once a month.

The actual semi-mythical St. Valentine was beheaded by the Romans many hundreds of years ago. And since the guy Valentine's Day was named after didn't have a very nice holiday, why should we? He certainly didn't get a bouquet of roses or an assortment of Fannie May truffles while the rusty blade was cutting through his carotid artery, upper spine and various neck gristle. I'm not saying that Valentine's day should be celebrated with a guillotine, but how about we split the difference? Maybe a heartfelt card doodled on the back of an envelope and a brisk walk in the park together?

For the record, I did actually buy my girlfriend a small rose assortment and some expensive chocolates. I may be a little dumb, but I'm not stupid! I'm as afraid as the next guy of being labeled a "bad boyfriend!"