why I love valentine’s day — a celebration of friend-love

Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of February (or, in a leap year, just before the midpoint). Even though it’s the shortest month, February always feels the longest – the days are dark and cold, the permacloud has set in, and there’s very little to break up the monotony of daily routine. Luckily, Valentine’s Day falls right in the middle of the month (or, in a leap year, just before the midpoint) to break up the darkness.

Valentine’s Day is popular with elementary schoolers and with couples. If you exist somewhere between those two categories, you choose what type of spinoff of a holiday you want Valentine’s Day to be– horror, comedy, tragedy, or celebration. You can declare yourself a Valentine’s Day hater and renounce anything pink or heart-shaped for the whole month of February. You can treat Feb. 14 like any other day and ignore the chocolate and teddy bears that line grocery store shelves for the first few weeks of the month. If you want to, you can call Valentine’s Day an elaborately constructed ad campaign to get us to buy more stuff, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

Hating is no fun. In February, we have to take our bright moments where we can get them. Valentine’s Day is a bright moment. It is February’s gift to us. It forces us to be a little bit more attentive to our surroundings and appreciative of the love that we have in our lives, especially because these things are less obvious when the sun is not shining and exciting things are not on the horizon.

For me, Valentine’s Day means appreciating how immensely lucky I am to have friend-love in my life. One of the ways I experience friend-love is through cards. I love making and receiving cards and notes. I think it’s easier to articulate the specific reasons why you love someone in writing, and it’s easier to receive compliments in a note. Valentine’s Day is an excuse to write notes to people you love and receive cards to cherish. It is an opportunity to tell each other the little things that we notice and love about each other.

Valentine’s Day celebrates more than friend-love and romantic love. It is an opportunity to appreciate the human-love that surrounds us. In some ways, Valentine’s Day celebrates the best of humanity, which is our ability to form relationships where we care deeply for each other. On Valentine’s Day, a classmate gave me a piece of candy, I saw a girl smiling at the sight of a flower with her name on it, and I saw people stopping to look at at an incredible sunset with their friends– these are all examples of the love that surrounds me in the world, and Valentine’s Day brings it all to the surface.

(the sunset in question!)

So, don’t be a Valentine’s Day hater. Write to your friends and tell them that you love them, buy yourself coffee, be a little more attentive on your walk to class. Everything will seem a little bit brighter.

Strike out, 

Katherine Lieberth 

University of Notre Dame