Valentine love letters: February 14, 2015

The colour of love

For me, Valentine’s Day holds a special significance as this is one day for expressing love. Love is universal and with this concept in mind, I do express my love to my spouse who holds a very special place in my heart and life. There are many more who I love dearly: my parents, siblings and children. We as humans need love to survive on this planet, so why restrict the choice of individuals for expressing love?

Today’s ever competitive world has taken this simple day and commercialised it in such a way that people are spending copious amounts of money to please one another. This will take its toll in the long run.

When this day is so simple, why go to such extremes to express three simple words? Do materialistic possessions hold more weight as compared to words? Leave this for the readers to decide.

For me, this day is a day to express love for all those who hold a special place in my life. It’s not that I can’t do that on any other day, but when the day calls for celebrations, why not celebrate?

From Ms Shalini Menezes

UAE

Why the hype?

Every day is a day of love. Why narrow it down to one day in a year? Why the roses, beverages, love letters, engagements and dining? Why the hype? Love is not only for your spouse or fiance. Love should be shown to all humanity, Nature, animals and plants every day. Cut out the commercialisation and just be in love as much as you possibly can. Artificial declarations of love are useless and should stop. Stop the commercialisation of love as with everything else!

From Mr Ajit Lamba

UAE

Is it so bad?

Valentine’s Day has become such a ubiquitous festival today that questioning its celebration would be foolish and redundant. What is necessary is an understanding and integration of its role in culturally diverse societies. Love most definitely needs to be celebrated. It forms the foundation of any stable, long-lasting relationship. Ideally speaking, every single day should be imbued with the spirit of celebration of life, love and relationships.

But in our fast paced, stressed out society where minutes are money, maybe this festival assumes a welcome occasion where we take the time to remind ourselves and offer thanks for the love in our lives. It’s an expression that can be easily integrated into all cultures – and where there’s a festival, there’s always a fair!

In this digitalised era with distant neighbours, it’s inevitable that the old celebrations seem cold and commercialised. The onus of keeping the spark alive is on us. Happy Valentine’s Day!

From Ms Priyavrata

UAE

Full name withheld by request

There for me

I want to take this opportunity to say thank my better half. Words cannot express my feelings deep down in my heart, but yes one sentence defines my entire feeling. Thank you for always being there when life has pushed me down, thank you for walking with me on the path of life, step-by-step together and united. Valentine’s Day is not celebrated once, it is there throughout the year if you have a person who trusts you, protects you and loves you in spite of whatever the world thinks about you.

I want to wish a very happy Valentine’s Day to every one at Gulf News, my second love. Thank you everyone.

From Ms Sophy Aqeel

UAE

A little love every day

Valentine’s Day is one of the most over-rated and commercialised days of the year. It’s amazing how gullible people are and how easily they can be manipulated. Love does make the world go round, but not in a merry-go-round.

Celebrate love, instead of showing off your celebration of your love and add a little Valentine’s Day to each day of your life. You will find that life will be more beautiful.

From Ms Bindu Sathianesan

UAE

Showing love

I believe every day is Valentine’s Day. That’s one of the main reasons why I’ve been going home with a custom designed rose to my wife every single day since the day I met her.

From Mr Haider Al Zuhairi

UAE

Shallow gift giving

There is nothing wrong with the idea of expressing your love through written words, by presenting a gift or just a warm hug to someone you deeply care about. But, setting a day such as Valentine’s Day for expressing your love sounds too superficial – it falls into empty ritualism and formality. Moreover Valentine’s Day over the years have become too commercialised that married couples or youngsters who are about to wed the love of their life may tend to look at how much each is willing to spend for gifts. Love becomes measured in terms of commercial value. The whole idea is a mockery of genuine love. Has anyone done a survey on the number of split ups that might have happened owing to the fight over the price of gifts or just being forgetful of the occasion? The commercialisation of Valentine’s Day is not unique to itself, it has permeated other occasions where you start seeing commercial advertisements on various media including the television, radio and prints nudging you to buy gold, watches and other expensive gift items as a token of love. It is nauseating to see gold jewellers at the forefront exploiting these occasions with advertisements of specially designed products. The offices and other social settings become a venue for discussing the preparation for Valentine’s Day, and it often creates a sense of guilt in the minds of people who had never thought about celebrating such occasions.

Let common sense prevail. If you still insist on celebrating, buy flowers and cook your spouse a good meal, enjoy a quiet day together on the terrace or beach.

From Mr V. I. Mohammad Sageer

UAE

A big rip-off

What is Valentine’s Day? I can understand celebrating your birthday or your wedding anniversary, but Valentine’s Day? Most of us had not even heard of this day until recently when various industries decided to play the gullible population, not to mention the immense pressure they put on the expectations of loved ones.

The joy is not in celebrating the presence of a loved one in your life, but in proving that your partner gave you a better time or gift for Valentine’s Day than your friend’s partner did. But anyway, for you romantic buffs out there, enjoy the evening and the romance. Sometimes I am forced to meet the occasion’s expectations. No harm done.

From Mr Shama Mohammad

UAE

Spend time, not money

It is that time of the year when all the wasted red and pink coloured items are sold out easily, the time when people equal love and money. Insanity it is, this exaggerated February 14th of every possible year.

Despite the dire need to put forth expensive shiny gifts to your loved ones, I don’t understand why simple gestures of love on a daily basis are forgotten by most. It is not a necessity to donate sky high prices to these silly restaurants who surely take advantage of the situation.

Rather than wasting money on expensive gifts and costly dinners on one specific day, let’s try to spend more time with those whom we love, sharing gestures of kindness on all 365 days of the year.

From Ms Samah Riyas

UAE

Editors’ note: Is there a news report that you feel strongly about? Something that has to be addressed in the community and requires resolution? Email us on readers@ gulfnews.com. You can also post a comment on our Facebook page or tweet us @GNReaders.