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2004-02-17 - 11.48am previous entry next entry Oh dear. I think my rant about Valentine's Day has definitely offended some Americans and single people! I'm really sorry to offend anybody in those categories. I think it's just that I'm English, and genuinely and honestly I don't think we see it the same as they do in America. I do agree that all types of love is a wonderful thing to celebrate, but I'm afraid I can't change my views on Valentine's Day. It really and truly IS meant to be a romantic celebration. I know it's been blown right out of proportion (and maybe I'm wrong to say that's a bad thing??) in the States so that it's become more about any type of love - perhaps because people who aren't in a romantic relationship have such a hard time with the fact that there's a romantic holiday they feel left out of? But that doesn't change what Valentine's is meant to be about - romantic love. It does NOT have anything to do with being "punished" for being single if you are excluded from Valentine's celebrations!!!! That is crazy! I mean, Mother's Day! I want sooooo much to be a mother. Mother's Day breaks my heart because I am not in that group of people. But I have to suck it up and wait because I am just NOT a mother yet. If I am never a mother I will still have to suck it up and feel naff on Mother's Day. When I was younger and single, Valentine's Day was NOT an easy day, because it was about romance and couples in love, and I was not one of them. There are different holidays for different groups of people it seems. Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, the list goes on. I am not being punished for not being a mother by being excluded from Mother's Day!!! It's the same with Valentine's, only it's hard to see it that way if your country makes it such a big deal and makes you FEEL like you're being unfairly left out (which is just a perception, not actually the truth anyway). I don't like that Valentine's Day is getting people pressurised to spend money or feel guilty or unnoticed if they haven't wished (or been wished by) their family members a happy Valentine's Day. It should never have got to the way it is today where people have to do that spending and guilt-tripping and wishing their parents/sister/children had thought to remember them on Valentine's Day. I know if I could be bothered to do a search on Valentine's Day - the meaning behind it and all, it would confirm that it's nothing to do with agape love, friendly love, family love, ANY type of love except romantic love. If you are blessed enough to have that then yay, celebrate with your loved one, that is the point of Valentine's Day, to be shared between a couple in love. But if you are not yet blessed that way... yikes I'm really sorry but that is just um, tough really. It isn't fair to turn the holiday into something it was never intended to be, something that makes Valentine's Day soooooo in your face because the whole nation is shouting it from the rooftops and you can't turn in any direction without hitting a plastic heart or greetings card, that OF COURSE any single person is going to feel absolutely awful the whole day, because it's made such a big thing of and impossible to just get on with a normal day if you are not involved romantically with someone. And nor is it fair to add to that whole big hype about Valentine's Day by getting all bitter about people who think it's about romance. You know, bitterness doesn't help. I remember it well, but romance will come to you. It's not right to be all "Waaah I am so peeved that I am not in a relationship, how dare you suggest that I be left out of a romantic holiday!!" Does that make sense to anyone?!! Not me. But that's it really. I can't change my opinion on Valentine's Day or apologise for having it, because I am convinced I am right about it. Ah I'm so full of myself! But no, really, I don't mean it in that way - I just mean, hey, I'm sorry if you are offended that I think Valentine's is a day for couples, or if I vented a bit about the overblown way it's done in the States, but uhm... it's true on both counts, so I don't know what else I can say about it. If I still make you mad with what I've said, feel free to search on the origin or meaning of Valentine's Day. I'm sure you'll see that it's absolutely confined to romantic-ness, and nothing else, despite what's happened to it in this day and age. I am just a fan of keeping things special, and things stop being special when everyone wants on board. What if the whole world started wanting gifts on Mother's Day because they were the CHILD of a mother, or a babysitter to some kids and therefore decided that this could make them eligible for gifts/being made to feel special on Mother's Day?! To me, the whole world getting gifts/"I love you"s on Valentine's Day is just as crazy. But enough! I've made my point (several times over, I fear!)! What other news can I talk about? Oooh Neil and I spent the evening moving furniture yesterday!!! It was so much fun! We shifted bedroom furniture between our bedroom and the spare one, to fit in a new thing - a baby changing unit! :) I know it's premature, but it will hold all my nappy (diaper) making supplies and the ones I have finished sewing, so that is good. Plus it looks pretty. And makes me broody! It's wooden and has a baby bath fitted in it. Neil and I put it together, and it only took us like half an hour. It was so exciting, the best fun I've had in ages, because we both felt that wonderful rush of anticipation, like we are really getting ready for a baby. But of course there isn't a baby yet. But we're working on it! Anyway, that was so much fun. I will probably post a photo in my pre-pregnancy journal later, when I have filled the unit with nappy stuff! I am going to housegroup tonight!!! I'm quite excited actually. I'm thrilled about being involved in church again and spending time with people who love me and who I love (but would never send a Valentine's card to, you see?! Okay Alice, enough about that already!). It's been a while since I relaxed with my church family. I am really looking forward to housegroup. Neil isn't coming, because he has to stay late at work tonight to make up some hours. I got 2 Next tops in the post today!! I won them at eBay. One of them looks a bit big, hmmm. I will have to try them on. I sold my first item on eBay last week (2 actually!) so I know I can sell the top if it doesn't quite fit. I love it though, it's another feminine top. I am getting much more choosy about my appearance now, and taking more pride in how I look, which I think is a really good thing :) Okay I have to take library books back, otherwise I will get fined while I am in France and I won't be able to do anything about it! But oh, Neil has taken the car to work. Hmmm. Well maybe tomorrow then. I need to go to the post office, and that's just a short walk away so I don't need the car for that. Right, that is all my news for today, but I'll write again soon! |
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