I am a Spiteful Valentine's Day Hater

Hello there.

Just in case you're wondering, this particular blog is not going to be very uplifting. Unless I change my mind half way through. Which is unlikely. Since I am a spiteful little cynical Valentine's day Hater. HA! I LAUGH IN THE FACE OF THE WORRRRRRLLLDDD!!!

I. hate. Valentine's. Day. And I admit, it is probably 99% because I have been single for the past 19 years of my life, and 1% because I am against the commercialization of the day. Valentine's Day is... hmmm... how should I phrase this? One of the most ultimately depressing days of the year.

I wake up to my alarm clock playing the top 20 love songs with mushy love tips in between. I whip out of bed so that I can turn it off as quickly as is humanly possible before I start gagging in disgust.

Next, I walk downstairs only to be meet with red cupids, hanging balloon hearts, and Valentine's event reminders. I again feel the bile rising in my throat.

I go to church, and what do they talk about? LOVE. Marriage and love. Dating and love. Romeo and Juliet. Flowers. Chocolate. etc. (Although they do include God's love, so at least I know I am included in that! :P ) Kill me now.

So I come home and embrace the comforting silence of my room and a book of economics. There is no mention of love in economics, (except, i could add, a chapter on "Cash for Condoms", but even this only goes on to explain how the cost of a condom and the cost of a child are widely divergent, and thus, giving away FREE condoms should make no difference then selling them). It is a beautiful read.

I have to say that I did get myself into the next escapade by attending an Opera put on by the Music Department. At least in this opera, the two lovers secretly hated one another. HAHAHA. Not uplifting, but it fuelled my cynical spirit.

Yes, Valentine's does make me spiteful. What an awful day for all the singles in the world. All I'd like to do is scream some Tina Turner, "WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO, GOT TO DO WITH IT? WHAT'S LOVE BUT A SECOND-HAND EMOOOO-TION?"

I suppose that in the end, I'll say that I do secretly wish I had somebody to spend the day with, even if it is simply to sit near them and read my silly economics book near. And I should simply be happy for those wonderful couples who actually have somebody to spend Valentine's with, and who have found someone who makes life happier than it would be without them nearby. I am, in all reality, a romantic. Romantic comedies and Shakespeare make me cry and sigh in utter sadness when I think about how much I'd like to have someone to love too. (I'll admit, it's really QUITE pathetic.)So I suppose I could say that Valentine's Day isn't sooooo bad...

But I choose not to. So there. :P

Finding Hope in the Devastation of the World

The world seems so messed up. There are so many problems out there that I often feel like I cannot do anything at all. I give up and want to go and hide. There's this distinction we put on the "public" world vs. the "private" world. The public world includes the corrupt politicians that decide to sit by while the environment is destroyed or prorogue government, the natural disasters like Haiti and the helplessness we feel while we try and figure out some way to make their lives better, the poverty that kills thousands every day. It's all a bit overwhelming, and it's so easy to lose hope.

And I was thinking the other day, whenever I feel down about the world, like I just can't do anything, I go to my family, to my friends, to the people closest to me. And I wondered why. Some might say it's because it seems easier. I say it's because we're trying to renew our hope. Because maybe the answers to those problems aren't in the huge policies or "development projects" out there, but in the people we meet everyday. Change comes through a dedicated group of individuals. It's in the people around us that we can find hope that maybe the world isn't so bad. There is still love, there is still compassion, there is still sincerity. And maybe that's why going to our "private" world is so much easier. Because it's in the individuals around us that we can see the things that give us the hope we need. In those people, we see that the world isn't so bad. They inspire us, uplift us, and build us into the change-makers that the world needs to get rid of the problems that seem to big.