most cynical time of year

Walking into Walmart the other day it hit me: Valentine’s Day is coming. Fantastic.

Maybe it was the obnoxiously big red hearts hearts hanging everywhere or the 6’5 guy holding a singing rose and dancing with a child-sized red teddy bear… No seriously. Sometimes I wonder about the company I keep…

The day that half the world celebrates and the other half dreads is soon upon us and I, for the 18^th year running (I figure the first 4 don’t really count), will be joining half the world as we bitterly re-name February 14^th “Single Awareness Day”.

One person I know claims he invented the term, but I don’t believe him. At the same time he also told me he saw on the news that Valentine’s Day was officially re-named “Single Awarness Day”. I obviously fell for it. Perhaps I should have tuned in to the fact that he doesn’t have a TV. I used a pun. Oh, what is this world coming to?! Although I do admit it would be cool to invent the name of the anti-valentine’s day… moving on…

I think for the first time last year in Uruguay, the empty commercialism truly hit me. When you meet people selling red hearts on street corners you can begin to see how far-reaching our North American commercial influence can be. It’s like when I was in Nicaragua and I saw those hanging “icicle” Christmas lights… like, really?

I guess the day would be more fun if I weren’t sitting at home in jogging pants watching chick-flicks or Jason Bourne. But who wouldn’t want to sit in candlelight with Jason Bourne?