Love Makes the World Go Round

453 Words2 Pages
Love makes the World go round" or so they say, whilst others say "Money makes the World go round". Using simple mathematical logic, therefore, love EQUALS money or it certainly does when it comes to the card and gift outlets around St Valentine's Day. Cynical? Me? 1. No sooner have the stores packed away the Christmas cards and wrapping for another year, then they are festooning their shop fronts in hearts and flowers and everything is pink, fluffy and expensive! I'm a real romantic. I enjoy expressing my love for my partner, thanking her for the role that she has in my life and expressing the gratitude that we met and fell in love. I try to do this every day in some way. Not necessarily with gifts or cards, but with gestures and comments that re-affirm my love. I embrace a celebration of love and enjoy the IDEA of a day to recognize this, but I feel that St Valentine's Day has just become a commercial opportunity to bleed us of more of our hard earned cash. Firstly, the mark up on even the most basic of items shoots up after the end of January. Cards, certainly any of any quality, with correctly spelled verse(!), are double the normal price and cuddly toys are a ridiculous amount. Flowers, an enduring token of love, are almost unaffordable, particularly if you're going for the red roses. This is due entirely to us being a captive audience. We can't wait until later in the year to buy our cards when they are cheaper. Valentine cards appear in the shops for 3 weeks at most so we HAVE to buy them when we are told to. In this sense we are co-erced romantics! Forced to demand the products when the supply is short lived - a godsend combination of the basic laws of economics that cause the cash registers to sing. Secondly, whilst St Valentine's Day is meant to be a day for re-affirming love and romantic ideals it is increasingly becoming a day for sexual

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