Valentines’ Day & Grandparents’ Day? :S
Yes today is both Valentines’ Day and Grandparents’ Day and no, I am not wishing you either. Today, there is a ‘special’ day for anything, absolutely anything. It has almost become a mockery. Yes Christmas, Diwali, Eid, and even birthdays are exceptions. They have been there for quite some time, and have good reason to exist.
But nowadays, these ‘special’ days of ‘celebration’ are produced – literally! Our society is waiting to find an excuse to celebrate some occasion or the other, or to remember some person or the other, or to express your love for some relation of yours or the other. And wait, the main instigators of such a trend is the media. They obviously make maximum profits from those people who are caught in the web of love or from those who are just looking for an excuse to celebrate friendship (it should be celebrated, but not only on some particular day). Yes some of these days are seem important, such as the ‘Van Mohatsav’ day (save-the-environment day), so that there is sudden number of increase in the number of trees in the world? Some might say that it is required by the society to raise awareness, or express love. Yes it seems all reasonable, yes there should be days such as these! But…
But why should we choose one particular day (let’s say today) to declare our love for someone? Why can’t we just express our feelings for whomever whenever required?
Why should we select one particular day to plant trees? Why can’t we make it a regular slot in our timetables?
Why should we choose the 19th of June to show our fathers that we really care? Why do we have to wait, and give him a ‘thank you’ card only on that day? Hasn’t he supported us for all our lives?
Why do we have to choose ‘World AIDS Day’ to remember the victims of this fatal disease? Why can’t we pray for its cure everyday? Why can’t we raise awareness in the world regarding matters such as poverty, population and so on, on a more regular basis, and not rely on some particular day?
People may argue that such ‘special’ days are required to keep the spirit going. I agree, but what I personally don’t like is that there are so many of these unnecessary days of ‘celebration’ and ‘remembrance’ and the fact that it has almost become a farce. It has become almost an excuse to throw a party and enjoy the supposed ‘meaningful’ day. My point is why do we need an excuse? It has almost become like, what, we don’t have ‘Great Grandfather’s Brothers’ day? Do we actually need these concocted dates to express ourselves and actually care?
Again, it is debatable – so your opinions are welcome, but I hope no one jumps on me like they normally do!
Just for your information – here are a few ‘days’ that our world apparently celebrates:
Australia Day
ANZAC Day
April Fools Day
Arbor Day
Bank Holiday
Chinese New Year
D-Day
Day of the Dead
Earth Day
Easter
German Unity Day
Groundhog Day
Hallie Parker Day –
Hangul Day
Holi
Imbolc
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
International Lighthouse Day
Inventor’s Day
Kwanzaa
Lantern Festival
Lunar New Year
Mardi Gras
Martin Luther King Day
May Day
Mole Day
New Year’s Day – January 1st
Pi Day
Purim
Presidents’ Day
Saint Patrick’s Day
Shrove Tuesday
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Valentine’s Day
Veterans Day
Victory in Europe Day
Victory over Japan Day
Women’s Day
World AIDS Day
World Ocean Day
World Water Day
(Fathers, Mothers, Childrens, Teachers, Grandparents) x Day – (imagine a maths equation)
Do we need so many?
Chanced upon your blog.Interesting point of view & yes, you could wish me a happy valentine’s day &/or a happy grandparents’ day! Hey,I could be young enough or old enough for both! I absolutely agree with you that all these so called red letter days are crassly commercialized to the point of mindlessness, but my point is this… in a free society and as a rationally thinking person you don’t have to give in to the media frenzy. If you are not a Chinese you wouldn’t celebrate the Chinese New Year,at the same time if you have a friend you would like to send a hug to & who needs it, why then Valentine’s Day is just an occasion & a reminder to do so! Just a thought…if today was a public holiday would you still have penned the article?!
I definitely agree that most of these ‘big days’ are commercialized and provide a huge amount of revenue for a number of companies, but on the other hand i can’t deny the fact that i enjoy recieving a hug or a letter or something of the kind at the end of a strenuous day… so what if the day is given a name?
There are two dimensions to this- either u express ur sentiments every single day immaterial of the magnitude with which u do so, but don’t u think it would loose its charm eventually? Or u just take the gratititude for granted and never have to express it which i disagree with because that just seems idealistic, right? Thus I think if someone is extremely opposed to the concept of such a day then the person should just not celebrate it and stay aloof of the festivities… it’s ur decision to make.. the media doesn’t have to influence u. But i strongly believe that there is no real valid reason for going against such days (like the shiv sena party and valentine’s day- shhh!)I dont completely agree with ‘justathought’ as it’s the hype about the day that creates an air of ‘cheeziness’ and a public holiday would not let everyone experience the general atmosphere around. I dont think there’s anything wrong with not being chinese and still wanting to celebrate the chinese new year. In the place where i live people from all over exchange each other’s cultures and that’s just how it works.
Maybe the Chinese new year wasn’t a good example butI meantitjust as an example. Hey Proma you seem to live in a great place, and by the way I am a ‘she’not a ‘he’And just in case you didn’t know the Shiv Sena have had a change of heart too! read http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/02/12/10018041.html
well heres an interesting one! the importance of international lighthouse day! why that’s just a part of our lives we can’t ignore anymore! i mean all those lonely night when i’m returning home in my ferry and i see that one light guiding me home it just fills me with joy knowing it IS honoured! if you love lighthouses, love them! and victory over japan day!how glad we all must be to remember that one! let’s have a “nuke the enemies of state” day too! although seeing as there are only 365 days in a year america may have a problem! i’m sorry don’t mind the cynicism or the spellings for that matter. although days like world AIDS day, i must say are important, not to give them a day of glory, but to remind us of the severity of the way things are! the problem starts, when toothpaste day is given the same magnitude of importance! it’s an endless debate i suppose!so i propose we hereby entitle today “let’s debate about whether or not this debate is worthy of a day of it’s own” day!
good bye!
well, i think if you have any feelings to be emoted, do so. We do not need to see ‘Valentine’s Day’ written all over the place to suddenly realise that we love someone and need to express this feeling. Why one day only? Is every other day not as important? Or are we, modern man, so busy, that we must define specific days for specific things.
Saturday – remember the dead
Sunday – remember the loved ones
Monday – remember football
Tuesday – remember the world
…so on and so forth. I think you get the point.
justathought – firstly 14th feb is not a public holiday here in dubai, where i am from, but yes the occasion has caused me , not to ‘pen’, but umm type this post. Anyway i respect your views, but the whole point of my post was to express that we SHOULD NOT NEED A SPECIAL DAY, such as valentine’s day to send someone a hug. Why can’t we just do it when we actually feel like, and not rely on any particular day to inspire us to do it – because the fact that a particular day is motivating us to send our ‘love’ is itself quite pathetic.
proma – i am not telling you or anybody else to express your feelings everyday – that would just be insane – all i am trying to say is express them when u feel like and not because of some day. Hell if i wanted i could send u card on any day and tell u how much i care – not on one particualr day because the whole world does so! And how much ever you dont want it too, the media does influence you! i dont want to be influenced by it, but quite honestly and hypocritically i am, hell everyone is, to a particular extent. it made me write this post!
harry and anonymous – thanks for agreeing!
blog on
u forgot electric guitar day man! ass
its nov – 27th
Well im not disagreeing with you Anish, It’s just that sometimes, well not sometimes, most people, myself included, forget to give a shit about something about someone else.i know im being very crude and inarticulate, but its true. its like how you spoke in assembly that day, how difficult is it to say a kind word or appreciate something that someone else has done for you. We get pissed off with people who we love numerous times, but that doesn’t stop us from loving them. Its just that sometimes we forget, and who knows by the time you remember, that person maybe gone. MAYBE, these days also serve the purpose of a reminder to show someone how much we love them(or in alis case ‘it’)
What im trying to say is that even if we do tell people who are close to our hearts that we love them often, this day St.v Day, is just another celebration where the world comes together to do it in unison. We are human,anish youre right though, we should just ask ourselves , how much do we really care?