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Why is it that all our major holidays have become equated with spending large amounts of money?
Take Valentine's Day, for example. Valentine's Day is about love, which is free. Yet the retail celebration of this holiday is anything but free.
It is estimated that over $1 billion is spend on Valentine's cards each year. People also spend over $2 billion on jewelry, $600 million on candy, and $400 million on flowers. Is all this money necessary to express the three words, "I love you?"
Due to the misguided marketing message that says we need to spend money to prove we love someone - and the more we spend the more we love them - the meaning of the holiday has gotten all tangled up with buying things.
The holiday had a much purer origin. It was named for Valentine, a third century priest in Rome, who actually lost his life for love. Valentine married young lovers in secret and continued to do so against the orders of the church. He was imprisoned for it and put to death.
Before he died, Valentine sent a note to his jailer's daughter, signing it, "From Your Valentine." According to legend, this was the beginning of the card-sending tradition.
The appreciation for a gift often has nothing to do with the thing's monetary value. The pleasure of the recipient is based on the sentiment involved, not the cost. An expensive gift carelessly given can be absolutely meaningless, while the simplest expression of heartfelt love will be cherished as a treasure.
I've always found the pink, glittery Valentine's Day holiday to be a pleasantly bright spot in the gray doldrums of February. It is a perfect time of year to lift someone's spirits by letting them know they are loved or appreciated.
Is there an absolutely free way of doing this? Well, yes, if you don't count the 46 cent stamp. What could be more precious in this electronic age than receiving and holding in your hand a tangible, handmade Valentine's Day card.
Making one doesn't take much skill. A heart cut out of red paper and printed with those three short words will do just fine. Arriving in the mail, it's bound to surprise someone and very possibly make their day.
The only really free thing we have to give is time. And a gift of our time is what people appreciate most deeply. It is what really speaks from the heart.
This is the real joy that lies behind receiving any gift. The gesture says that someone took the time to think of you, and then cared enough to take the time to show it.