So, Christmas is over, New Year's is old news, and you know what that means? Valentine's day!

I swear, no capitalist economy could survive without calendar holidays. They are the pillar of the profit-oriented "if-there's-no-demand-then-create-one" philosophy. It's sad, because it's a perversion of otherwise nice times of celebration and reflection.

Given all the Valentine's advertising popping up, an acquaintance of mine recently asked a group of peers "What do you think of when you think of Valentine's Day?". Every answer given involved spending money. The question-asker said stuff like chocolates, flowers, cards, etc. Other people said romantic dinners, vacations, and other such consumer-oriented activities. Pardon the pun, but I find that very disheartening.

Regardless of what it started out as, today's Valentine's Day is essentially a celebration of the most beautiful human phenomenon: romantic love. Mothers have a day, as do fathers and family. War veterans have day, and Jesus has two. Even the Queen, Canada, and the calendar have a day. Heck, the Irish have a day. So it's only fair that lovers have a day.

I've never been one to hand over cash just because every advertiser and their dog tells me I should. I know what I need, and I certainly don't need money hungry corporations and stores to tell me what it is. What I need (and what I believe most people would benefit from) is reflection on the spiritual dimension of holidays.

Valentine's Day should be a day to set aside time for doting on the love of one's life. It should be a reminder to all those with hectic, busy, demanding lives that the reason for it all, the apple of their eye, the sustenance of their soul, is there beside them, and could use a snuggle, a smile, and some sweet somethings whispered in their ear. It should be a reminder of how nice love is, and how good it feels to love and be loved. It should not be reminder that you should be buying something.

Valentine's Day can also serve as a bastion of resistance against repression. For lively, free spirits, Valentine's Day can be an opportunity to be saucy, fresh, and young. An excuse to let loose and be wild with the one you love. To get outside of the stuffiness of proper society for once and have a little eyebrow-raising fun. It can be a occasion for kisses, embraces, and caresses, and whatever else is boiling up in the back room of all our imaginations.

Valentine's Day can be an excuse to be flaky and mushy. To write cheezy love poems, or draw cheezy drawings. To wear a big grin all day and phone your lover at work a dozen times just to tell them that you miss them even more than the last time you phoned. Or make a follow-the-hidden-clues hunt that leads to your initials carved in a tree. It can be an opportunity to do outlandish things like getting a huge piece of paper and drawing a big red heart on it with caricatures of the two of you inside, and hanging it above your bed.

Of course, holidays are often simply occasions for feeling bad because you don't have whatever it is you're supposed to be celebrating. But instead of getting together which a bunch of other people who are in the same boat-run-a-ground and over-indulging in something bad for you, I suggest contemplating love and its many expressions, and storing up ideas for when you do find that special star in your sky, so you can really knock their socks off when good ol' February 14th rolls around. Watch those around you. Take the good ideas from the media bombardment, and ignore the garbage. Let your imagination wander, fueled by all the lovey stuff going on around you.

But for pete's sake, if you are involved with someone, don't drain your spirit and wallet buying gifts, and if you're not involved, don't get down on yourself. It's only Valentine's Day.