Valentine’s: Bah Humbug

Image source: Esther Howland Valentine circa 1850 

So what are we left with?  Well, if it’s not a Saint, and it’s not a famous poet, and even Greek and Roman mythology have been ruled out, it must be….Esther Howland?!  A young woman who’s father owned a large stationary and book store, Esther took her inspiration from a hand made Valentine she had received from Britain, and, in 1847, she created the first mass produced Valentine cards, made with lace and embossed paper.  And so began the commercialization of a day that, until then, had limited observance as a day for lovers, especially outside of Great Britain, and consisted of sweethearts exchanging hand written notes, cards and poetry…until Esther was taken by an idea that will forever have her in the history books!  And as we know, traditions have progressed over the years to include gifts of a romantic nature, such as flowers and chocolate.  Suprisingly, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that the diamond industry saw an opportunity and began promoting Valentine’s Day as the day for the giving of jewellery.  Odd, I have become so accustomed to the barrage of jewellery ads and commercials at this time of year, I had assumed it was always the practise.  Yet another example of how we have been hoodwinked into throwing our money around on February 14th!  And there is one more, the one that inspired me to write this particular opinion piece.

Image source: “A little darker than most”, batteriesnotincluded etsy shop 

My children.  All four of them have now asked me to spend a fair amount of hard earned (and always hard to come by!) money so that they too can buy into the sentiment of the day and exchange goofy little cards with their 20 some odd classmates, who, in turn, will have convinced their parents to part with their cash to do the same.  These cards must, of course, include sweets of some kind, especially for their more “significant” classmates, and each child will then come home with 20 some odd, almost identical, little paper cards from random children, along with a handful of treats that are also identical to what I bought and sent to school.  Of course, all of these will then wind up in the recycling bin before the week is out.  So why do I do it?  Why do I spend money on an obvious marketing ploy to buy cards and sweets for a total of more than 60 other random children, when it’s basically a straight exchange at school, their card for your card, their treat for your treat, rather than simply purchasing four for my own children?  For the same reason all those other parents will do it, year after year.  Because it’s expected…because they ask me to, and because all the other children will do the same.  None of us want our child to be the one left out, the only one with no Valentine’s to give, and of course, we buy them for the entire class so that no one else’s child is the child with no Valentine to receive.  We do it because we love our children…and because the calendar tells us to!

Besides, it’s a Valentine’s Day tradition…but I don’t have to like it…and I still say BAH HUMBUG!