Should You Boycott Valentine's Day?

While valentine's day can be a fun opportunity for an established couple to kick up their heels - it can cause anxiety & grief to singles that may be feeling pressure and urgency to find someone to 'fit the bill' for a valentine's date. This 'pressure and urgency' may be real or imagined - but it is a serious burden for many people, and can cause depression, and/or a feeling of worthlessness for some unlucky souls, and they simply don't deserve to feel like that.

Not everyone is part of a couple, and not everyone wants to be. For those that are firmly established as being single - it's a no-brainer that valentine's day is likely not something that they will be celebrating. But there are many people (eligible or not) that aren't sure what their looking for yet, or even what they want in their beau - and then along comes valentine's day, and for some reason they find themselves scrambling to find an available 'anyone' to help them feel like they're not a romantic failure! This doesn't make any sense, and quite frankly is unsafe - especially if this available 'valentine' is a complete stranger, and nothing is known of said valentine's background!

On top of that, there is the fact that approximately 214 million roses will be grown just for the purpose of fulfilling valentine's day orders - leading to large amounts of chemicals being used until the flowers are harvested, and these chemicals can be (and often are) damaging to the environment. This URL to a 'cool' valentine's day gift, is going a little too far - and makes me wonder what condition the flowers will be in shortly thereafter:
http://topdiyvids. blogspot.com/2008/02 /cool-valentines-day -gift.html

There is so much expense associated with valentine's day, that can make it significantly less appealing/romantic for many (including myself) especially when you consider the lengths that restaurants, for example, will go to, to attract customers (and out-do other establishments) on the oh-so-well-known February the 14th, and the elaborate 'valentine's day' menus!

What would really make valentine's day romantic for me, would be to go to a farmers market (or even better - a local farm) and pick out organic produce - along with some edible flowers, perhaps - then retreating to one's abode to dilly-dally around in the kitchen, only to come up with fabulous recipes with which to make a delicious valentine's day dinner. You'd be hard-pressed to find a restaurant meal that could rival a meal cooked from organic food that had been harvested that day (or the day before), and especially having been cooked by someone who has a subscription to 'Everyday with Rachel Ray' and that also watches the show! 'Yum-o'!

So, um, happy v-day?