Today is Valentine’s Day, so I figured I’d pull from the legendary SubscribeStar archives to let the unsubscribed masses bask in my dubious wisdom (which can be yours seven days a week for just $1 a month).

Dr. Girlfriend and I are enjoying a steak dinner tonight.  We’re looking forward to it after a busy week.  Let’s just hope I’ve gotten her some flowers—gulp!

With that, here is 24 February 2024’s “In Praise of Valentine’s Day“:

A couple of weeks ago Americans celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Wednesday, 14 February 2024 was the feast day for Saint Valentine, the patron saint of engaged couples, happy marriages, beekeepers, love, and even the mentally ill.  Perhaps that last one is a commentary on how love can—sometimes literally—drive us crazy.

It’s become something of a trend to denigrate Valentine’s Day as a commercial cash grab, a blatant invention of the candy and floral companies to boost their bottom line in the doldrums between Christmas and Halloween.  That’s true, of course, but that’s just the modern iteration of Valentine’s Day.  It’s worth looking at the deeper roots of the holiday to appreciate it.

Another trend is to decry Valentine’s Day as some kind of attack on the single and their emotional fragility.  I’ve been single on more Valentine’s Days than not, but it never bothered me to see explosive expressions of love.  Red and pink hearts never drove home my own singleness, or made me feel bad for not having a girlfriend.  Thus, we have “Singles Awareness Day” and “Galentine’s Day”—even “Palentine’s Day.”  I’m not opposed to cutesy nomenclature, per se, and people having a bit of self-aware fun, but there is a certain anti-Valentinian undercurrent to it all.  And isn’t being anti-Valentine’s Day the same as being anti-love?

Well, that’s a false dichotomy on my part, but I do think we have a serious anti-romance problem.

The historic Saint Valentine is a bit of an enigma, and accounts of his life vary.  Readers are likely familiar with the classic Saint Valentine “origin story”:  he married young Christian couples when the Roman Emperor decreed that such marriages should not take place, and Valentine lost his life for it.  A Christian standing up to an anti-marriage government has quite a bit of resonance to it, no?

As Christians and conservatives, we should love love.  God Is the Ultimate Example of Love, as He Gave His Son for our sins.  That is deep, sacrificial Love, with a capital “L.”

Similarly, husbands and boyfriends (the latter, in my case) should demonstrate sacrificial love to our wives and girlfriends.  Of course, it’s a two-way street, and I think modern women don’t like to acknowledge it:  they should show us love and respect in kind.

But, let’s be real, Valentine’s Day is the one day we men should indulge in some simpery.  Buy her flowers.  Take her to a good dinner.  Get her some cute gifts.  It’s not much of a lift, and it’s worth it to show endearment and love.

We’ve become so jaded, and “love” has become so transactional.  I know many right-leaning (and, perhaps, right-thinking) men would say, “you’re a simp!”  I’ve probably been among them in the past.  But if we’re going to restore what real Love and Romance are meant to be, we need to respect this one day a year.

I still advocate for sweetness year-round, but it’s easy for women (and most men) to equate sweetness with weakness.  Men, you can be strong and sweet.  That’s the ideal towards which I strive.

I have plenty of issues with women—lots of them.  Modern women are quite debased in many cases.  If we’re going to fix it, though, we’ve gotsta be upstanding men.  Don’t throw flowers and chocolates at a ho, but be able to recognize a decent woman when you see her.

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

—TPP