The most hated holiday

Sunday is Valentine’s Day – the most hated holiday on the calendar.  Some 49 percent of all Americans hate Valentine’s Day.  That’s all of the males in the country.

Valentine’s Day is the day when all men are expected to be attentive, tender loving lovers.  It’s the day when we are required by common law to be extra romantic and expressive.

It’s the day when women expect gifts.  It’s the day when men are required to give gifts such as candy, jewelry, flowers, even lingerie; gifts that express our love and faithfulness.

It’s the day every man hates.

You can forget her birthday, you can fail to buy her a gift on your anniversary, but woe be unto the man who forgets his sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

Because, come Monday, all around the office, women will begin comparing their Valentine’s Day with the Valentine’s Day of other women.  Each will tout the gifts, the gestures, the love expressed by their man and any woman who doesn’t measure up with her man will be the wallflower of the office.

Valentine’s Day is the most hated holiday by men.

How did this little innocuous holiday come to be so important in the lives of women?  How did this day set aside for lovers become a national embarasment for those women without thoughtful men?

It’s the media by god.  Let’s blame the media.  Without their constant harping about this day, without the commercialism of Valentine’s Day, without the red hearts hanging in every store, men wouldn’t have the pressure to perform.

Every man hates this day.

There are more flowers sent on Valentine’s Day than any other day except Mother’s Day; and 85 percent of all flowers delivered on Sunday will be roses.

Men will spend more than a billion dollars this week on candy, most of it in heart shaped boxes.  And Valentine’s Day cards are flying off the shelf.

What do men get?

Some women do send their men Valentine’s Day cards.  Some women do buy their men gifts on Valentine’s Day.  About 25 percent of all flowers purchased this week will be by women, who send them to their sweethearts.

But women aren’t required to do it.

No man really expects to get a gift from his woman.  Oh, they’ll appreciate it but women aren’t required to do it.  Men won’t be standing around the water cooler next Monday talking about the gift or card they got on Valentine’s Day.

But, every man is expected to buy a gift for his woman.  The pressure to do so is just overwhelming.  The expectation that they will express their love through a gift is a symbol to a woman that her man loves her.

So, woe be unto any man who forgets to express his love for woman this Sunday.  You many find solace from other men on Monday, but you won’t find any forgiveness on Sunday from your woman.

God, I hate this day.

(A similar commentary has run on Valentine’s Day for the past 11 years on KGY Radio)