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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Commerialized Holidays & Celebrations 

Yesterday, I was reading blogs, like I normally do, and came across some that were "complaint" in some ways about Valentine's Day. One reason was that this was more of a couples' holiday/celebration and another reason was that loving one another should be an everyday thing and not just on February 14th.

First of all, V Day is not a couples' holiday/celebration. When you were kids, did you pass out Valentine's cards and/or candies to only those you like/love? No, you passed them out to the class and your teachers and maybe a special card or candy to the one you had a crush, if you had the guts to do so. So, Valentine's Day shouldn't be looked at a day for those who are in a relationship. What's wrong with going out with a friend or two for dinner and a glass of wine? What's wrong with treating them out to the movies? Another idea is that you can treat yourself to something special. Go out for a spa session. Get a massage. Get a haircut and maybe frost it or dye it. Get a manicure and maybe even a pedicure. Go out and buy yourself a book or two. Throw in a DVD. So, Valentine's is not just for couples.

Now, with this everyday thing, sure, I agree that we should love one another everyday and not just once a year. I guess I see some people complaining about the "commercialization" of the holidays/celebration.

If that is so, then why should we celebrate birthdays or New Year's? I mean, we should thank God for being granted one more day of life each day. It's one more day of a vivid life. One more day to breathe. One more day to laugh. One more day to love. One more day to see/hear. One more day to think. One more day of anything.

What's the point of Easter? If you're a Christian or believe in God/Jesus, then you should know that God/Jesus is alive everyday. If you rather celebrate the Easter Bunny and all that, then what's the point of that? Aren't kids supposed to have fun everyday? Aren't parents supposed to play with their kids everyday?

What's the point of 4th of July? I mean, we live in a free country. Shouldn't we celebrate the fact that we're free citizens and appreciate the rights that we have been afforded that other countries do not allow their citizens to have? (Of course, some of you may think differently that we're not quite free as we're lead to believe in this day and age.) Why go out and pop firecrackers? What's the point?

Why celebrate Halloween? Why go out and buy costumes and candies and all that? Couldn't you just dress up in costumes in the other days of the year whenever you feel like it? Is Halloween (and Mardi Gras) the only time we're allowed to be "silly"? Are we not allowed to buy candies in bulk and pass them out to others?

Shouldn't we give thanks every day of the year instead of just on Thanksgiving Day? And if you're in the mood for turkey, you know you can buy that any time of the year.

Just about everyone loves Christmas. Oh, so we can be a Scrooge for the other 364 days of the year? No, we should be ready to give to others at any time. We should allow that "inner kid" in us to be free and jolly and celebratory throughout the year.

Oh yeah, forget Mother's and Father's Days. We should appreciate their attempts for giving us the best childhood. You have to agree that some of us weren't easy kids for them. For some of us, we were blessed to have a roof over our heads, decent clothing and food. Our parents weren't perfect. Hey, some of you are and will be parents and I'll tell you, you won't be perfect either in your kids' eyes.

Anniversaries, what for? Shouldn't we appreciate that our loved one has been with us every day of the year, despite that fact we could be spawns of the devil and have been able to live another day? Shouldn't we love them, every day, without hesitation?

Unfortunately, some of us do forget and need these annual holidays and celebrations to remind of us of such appreciation and goodwill on earth.

I think for the rest of us, it's an excuse for us to celebrate. I mean, we all love to party and dress up and have fun. Valentine's Day, yeah. We get to splurge on our sweethearts with flowers, candies, balloons and maybe take them out for dinner. Yeah, I agree, we should think of our loved ones everyday. We should surprise them with a little "just because" gift now and then.

Holidays and celebrations give us an excuse to go all out in a big way and be festive. I'm one of those people that like to dress up for the holidays. If that makes me nerdy, so what! Yesterday, I was wearing red. Others were as well. I thought that was cute. If I wore red on another day, would you have thought, "aww, are you gonna do something sweet for your cutiepie"? Probably not. For 4th of July, I'll wear red, blue and white. If I wore that on another day, would you have noticed? Probably not. I'll wear either green or red for Christmas. What I'm saying, it's a chance for me to dress up and celebrate the holidays in my own way and I'm sure some of you are that way as well.

Commercializations, big deal! I mean, hell-o, we are in America, land of capitalism. We've practically made Hallmark rich and famous for the next millennium. Yeah, we should do these things every day. However, like birthdays and anniversaries, we should have an annual holiday for something (Thanksgiving/Christmas/Valentine's) to have an excuse to go out and do something festive/party! Plus, we do love to blow money, don't we?

ta ta for now...

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