This valentine's day (p.s. I hate using the ' apostrophe...it is hard to type, so I am going to leave it off from now on. English teachers sue me... but I am just not into doing it, it is inconvenient.)
I spent the day with 100 teenagers. Yes, I work at Bryan High. The whole day was like a balloon/stuffed animal explosion/flower explosion. And it got me thinking...
who decided that those would be the things sold on valentines day? Did companies have to compete to try and get there product sold on valentines day? Like why don't we give lamps on valentines day? Or pencil sharpeners? Who got to decide that flowers, balloons, and stuffed animal companies would make it big on this day? And that is where I have to ask,
WHY STUFFED ANIMALS? Does any girl like to get that on valentines day? Like I am not judging, but I just wonder, is that anyone's greatest desire? I mean I have received two stuff animals before when I was in my younger, more stupid years, and I was like "seriously, what do I do with this?"
Flowers are pretty, and they die so you can throw them away...good gift.
Chocolate...always a good gift.
Even balloons...I mean it wouldn't be my first choice of gifts, but it will eventually deflate and then I will throw it away. So even if I don't care too much for balloons, eventually I won't have to see it anymore.
But stuffed animals never go away. And lets be honest, when I was 17 (and now for that matter) what use did I have for a stuffed animal?!?
And what gets me are the HUGE ones. (yep this one is 8 feet tall...and someone spent their hard earned money on this!)
It’s almost like diamond rings. The bigger the stuffed animal the more you love someone. But for me, the pleasure I receive from the stuffed animal greatly decreases once it hits a size that would take up a whole corner in my room. Literally, like maybe it brings pleasure in the moment, but when the girl gets home I have to think she asks herself, "what in the HECK do I do wit this now."
And that is just the thing...its all about show. It was about show when I was in high school and it’s about show now. I remember when I was dating a boy my junior year of high school and he came over the night before valentines day to give me my gift. He said he wanted to give it to me the night before so I didn't have to carry it around school. In my mind I am thinking, "THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A BOYFRIEND ON VALENTINES DAY" but I couldn't very well tell him that, I didn't want to look superficial, but in my mind, I totally was.
The reason I know things haven't changed is because I had a girl tell it to me straight yesterday. I asked her who she got her bears from, and this is what she said...
"Well I got this pink one from my mom, because I didn't think I was going to have a valentine, so I asked her to buy me one so I could carry it around school...but then it turned out that this boy gave me one, so I had two."
That is right; this girl brought a bear FROM HOME to school...just to have something to carry around.
Now she is stuck with two stuffed animals that she has absolutely NO use for. Why stuffed animals? Why, WHY couldn’t we just be happy with the flowers and candy?
But I mean maybe I am the only girl who thinks this. Maybe every other girl gets great joy from receiving a stuffed animal. My question is, if other girls feel the same way as me, do we need to start a campaign to set the record straight so that guys stop wasting their money on crazy big stuffed animals...
what is the consensus? Any other thoughts on this highly commercialized holiday?
