Saturday, February 14, 2004
No one not in my position this Valentines Day can appreciate my feelings of joy at reading the headline, "Feds Destroy Valentines Roses" on AIM.com. Now, of course, the real story is, these flowers were imported illegally...but I think it may begin a healthy trend in our government towards useless holidays like Valentines Day. Perhaps Congress should create a new task force on The Elimination of Unnecessary Civilian Spending and urge people to actually put money into their relationships on a regular basis instead of just once a year.
If this sounds like the bitter rantings of a young single...you'd better believe it! Nevertheless, I have often commented on the stupidity of the holiday. Here at my Christian College, the only two non-religious holidays that get played up are also the two most worthless: MLK, Jr. Day and Valentines Day. President's Day is this Monday...it will probably go by unnoticed. Saint Patrick's Day might be noticed in the cafeteria but will be ignored otherwise. Veterans Day, Labor Day, Hannukah...all these get lost in the shuffle.
Writing in The National Review, Jennifer Graham suggests that the Catholic Church should reclaim the holiday and make it a holy day again...which, she bitterly but probably correctly, predicts, will compel American Catholics to ignore it. That's a pretty good idea really. As far as I can tell, Saint Valentine had nothing to do with romantic love and everything to do with self-sacrifical love of God. Read about the three men named Valentine. Thanks, Chaucer!
If this sounds like the bitter rantings of a young single...you'd better believe it! Nevertheless, I have often commented on the stupidity of the holiday. Here at my Christian College, the only two non-religious holidays that get played up are also the two most worthless: MLK, Jr. Day and Valentines Day. President's Day is this Monday...it will probably go by unnoticed. Saint Patrick's Day might be noticed in the cafeteria but will be ignored otherwise. Veterans Day, Labor Day, Hannukah...all these get lost in the shuffle.
Writing in The National Review, Jennifer Graham suggests that the Catholic Church should reclaim the holiday and make it a holy day again...which, she bitterly but probably correctly, predicts, will compel American Catholics to ignore it. That's a pretty good idea really. As far as I can tell, Saint Valentine had nothing to do with romantic love and everything to do with self-sacrifical love of God. Read about the three men named Valentine. Thanks, Chaucer!
// posted by The Pendragon @ 11:45 AM 
