I hate Valentine’s day.

In fact, I detest everything about this preposterous day and everything that leads up to it.

The whole idea is useless. All it does is create conflict and drama. Why should one be expected to reveal their love and admiration for someone over a tacky, heart-shaped box filled with chocolates and a couple of fuzzy, stuffed bears that shed glitter-fur all over your carpet?

And don’t even get me started on the stereotype of loneliness that surrounds this so-called holiday.

It’s as if there’s no in-between. You’re expected to gloat in happiness while carrying gigantic stuffed bears and a backpack full of roses that is practically spilling all over the place.

Or you can succumb to the darkness and sob uncontrollably while watching Dirty Dancing with a tub of chocolate ice cream.

Where does that leave the rest of us? Those like me who are stuck in this no man’s land that lies in-between these two extremes and would rather just forget this holiday even existed. I am happy with myself and don’t need to be roped into the twisted, messy web that entangles this fraud-like idea of “love.”

It has become a competition. A competition of who has the largest stuffed bear or whose boyfriend bought the shiniest necklace or has a dinner reservation to the fanciest restaurant in the city.

I remember one year, during this “lovely” holiday when I saw a girl, running down the hallway with tears streaming down her cheeks. My first thought was that she’d been hurt or that possibly she’d just endured her first break-up. It was only later, that I became aware that she had been crying hysterically because she had only received three cards. THREE! I remember thinking to myself, “She got three? And she’s sad? I got none…”

It’s funny like that. It seeps into your brain, like those anxious thoughts you can never quite get rid of. Should I be disappointed that I didn’t get anything or is it this brainwashing holiday messing with my head?

Well, let me tell you something, as a girl who has been alone on Valentine’s and has also received chocolates, I stand firmly when I say that Valentine’s Day is a holiday that feeds on the fake and materialistic expression of love.

You can’t buy love. Why exchange your love and affection for someone over a cheap bouquet of roses that will wilt away in two days? It’s useless and it’s a waste of money.

But somehow it makes everyone go crazy.

Flower stores bustling with customers screaming because they want the last, red rose; and last-minute-gift shoppers undergoing a sudden wave of panic as they start to realize that without a gift they might as well be dead.

Valentine’s feeds your thoughts with unrealistic expectations and pressure that manages to keep half of the population running around with giddy smiles and the other half crying at the thought of having to live this murderous holiday alone. It has become a materialistic, lifeless, phony holiday that has been blown way out of proportion.

Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a romantic. But this? Valentine’s Day?

I promise I’m not bitter.