What's In a Holiday?

    A lot of (too much) emphasis is placed on consumerism for holidays. Take Valentines Day, for example. While most holidays try to lure you in with sales, Valentines Day seems to be the opposite. Chocolate prices spike, flower prices rise sometimes nearly 500 percent, and jewelers prey on dupes with catchy lines like, "show her how much you love her with a diamond from store name."

   Is all of this necessary? Have we become so materialistic in nature that love is defined by a price tag? On Valentines Day, love costs only slightly less than divorce. Why do we need an expensive day to show someone we love them?

    Love can be shown every day of the year, and costs nothing. Instead of paying grossly inflated prices for flowers that will be dead in 3 days, because face it, you're basically throwing 50 dollars in the trash, just make her feel loved every day, If she's real, she will appreciate the everyday efforts, and overlook the lack of official holiday celebration. 

    The best things in life are free, not purchased at the behest of advertisers and retailers looking to rebound from the post Christmas doldrums.