By: Ruby Andreassen
I think Valentine's Day is over-commercialized and overrated. But with just one person's opinion and no solution, it's impossible to get anywhere so I interviewed several people, Joel Monterrosa, Victoria Case, who are both students here at AAA, I also interviewed Katie Russell and her husband Trenton Russell who are both staff members at AAA, to get their opinions on this subject. I asked the following questions, one, how much did you spend on valentine's day last year, or are you planning on spending this upcoming year? Two, what is your opinion on valentine's day? Three, in your opinion which is more romantic and sentimental in the long run, having a date on valentine's day or having a spontaneous date or gift just because. Four, what are your proposed solutions to making valentine's day more about the relationships and less about the commercial side of valentine's day?
Let's jump right into question one, which is regarding money spent on valentine's day. Victoria Case says that she spent over $30, Joel Monterosa spent “about $15”, Katie and Trenton Russell said that they Didn’t spend very much, they made a nice dinner at home together. The next question asks about people’s opinion of valentine's day. Most people agreed that they liked valentine's day but did think that it wasn’t based on the right things and that it shouldn’t be about materialistic things. In question three, I asked which would be more sentimental, a spontaneous date or gift or one just because it was valentine's day. Katie Russell responds with “I would rather have a spontaneous date and a simple gift. I feel like the little things are more realistic than the big grand gestures.
Those are not sustainable and make you feel that you always have to "one-up" the previous year's gift. I would rather be intentional with those I love by making breakfast in bed, playing games, or simple gifts like flowers and dark chocolate (this shows me that Mr. Russell is paying attention to the things that I like).” Question four refers to proposed solutions to making valentine's day more about your relationship and less about the commercialized side. Regarding this question, Victoria’s Case talks about how there should be less pressure towards couples to get each other gifts and more about spontaneously sharing love using just waiting for one day a year. Katie Russel, I feel states a really good point “Get to know the one you love on a deeper level. Pay attention to their love language and design valentine's day around that. It doesn't always have to be about how elaborate a gift you buy. "Trenton Russell makes a really good point by saying “More conversations about what it means to be in a relationship and how you should try to love one another and not feel commercial pressures. When we got married, the pastor said we should always be thinking about how we can out-love each other. He didn't mean just one day a year." Now that you've heard everyone else here's my proposed solution on how to make valentine's day more about relationships and less about the commercial side. I think people shouldn’t just wait till one day a year to celebrate their loved ones, and I think some of the pressure on big gifts should be removed.
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