You wake up in the morning and you can feel the feeling of excitement in the air. The anticipation of pink and white hearts wrapped presents is engulfing your mind. Suddenly, the doorbells rings; you go to open the door and the overwhelming aroma of sweet fragrance dances around your nose. Then you look down and see the most beautiful red roses staring you in the face with a little pearl white card written out in the most beautiful cursive handwriting. Next to the roses is a heart-shaped red statin box with beautiful round morsels of your favorite types of chocolate waiting inside for you to eat.  Who would not love that? You know what it means – the most lovable day of the year has arrived. It is Valentine’s Day.

What would Valentine’s Day be without the candy hearts and the red roses? Well, for sure, a whole lot less sweet. As modern-day Americans, we tend to look at Valentine’s Day from only a consumers point of view. After all, we look forward to the flowers, jewelry, and chocolates. But because of this commercial aspect of the holiday, we have begun to forget the true meaning of Valentine’s Day.

Back when it first started, the meaning of such a day was supposed to be about nothing but love, love, love. To truly understand what the real meaning of Valentine’s Day is, we have to go back to when the holiday was first created. It was started in the 5^th century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14^th St. Valentine’s Day, naming it after St. Valentine. This was because in ancient times, Emperor Claudius II thought that single men were better soldiers then men with families, so he banned marriage. Then, Saint Valentine realized this injustice and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. Because of these actions, Emperor Claudius put him to death. Therefore, the true reason that we celebrate Valentines Day is to remember St. Valentine’s huge sacrifice for the good of love.

However, many of us view Valentine’s Day today as a day to receive romantic gifts and not as much about the true meaning of love. Has Valentine’s Day lost the love and become exclusively about the expectations of getting gifts? Has it become just another commercial opportunity to make money for the companies that deal in chocolates and roses? I found that over-commercialization was, indeed, the case for February 14^th.

For those of you that are part of a relationship, could you imagine waking up on Valentine’s Day morning without flowers or chocolates? I bet that you could not. In current days – especially in a world in which you can connect with everyone in your social circle so quickly – people expect big things from Valentine’s Day. With people posting photos on Facebook of the beautiful roses they got and tweeting about what their fancy plans for the night are, it puts a big weight on people’s significant others to buy them gifts and take them out to dinner. This shows how the expectation of Valentine’s Day has changed. What was once a festive time of year to celebrate love has transformed into a day fraught with mere gifts and, in some cases, lack of overwhelming affection.

Essentially, because of these commercial aspects of this holiday, the meaning has changed into a race to see who can have a bigger bouquet of roses to post of Instagram at the end of the night. Valentine’s day seems to be losing its significance because it is so commercialized. As a result, those who are in relationships are expecting huge gestures and presents and they are upset when they fail to receive them.

Valentine’s Day has turned into another way for companies to get money from the American people. Especially because of the state that our economy is in, many companies aim to financially take advantage of such a holiday. For example, based on history.com, Valentine’s Day is the 2^nd most “bought card” holiday behind Christmas. This is an example of how Valentine’s Day is becoming a huge asset to America’s economy. People are encouraging this perpetual cycle by partaking in spending sprees.

For instance, in 2010 based on the society of American florists, an estimated 198 million roses were bought merely for the Valentine’s Day holiday. That means that, based on America’s current population, more then 60% of us purchased roses (although those who purchased likely bought multiple).

The commercial aspect of the holiday is something that will never go away. This is because this aspect is bringing billions of dollars into America’s economy. In all, based on statisticbrain.com, $13.19 billion was spent on Valentine’s Day in 2013. This is an overwhelming amount which shows how commercialized this holiday has become.

It seems that throughout the years, Valentine’s Day has gone from being a holiday that is celebrates the meaning of true love to a “holiday” that is a gift and flower fest. So, as we take a look back on what Valentine’s Day has become from a consumer’s point of view, we have to remember the real meaning. Even though this commercial aspect of Valentine’s Day will keep growing, we need to get back to the basics of what this holiday is truly about: love. Next time that you wake up on the morning of February 14^th and feel the sweet smell of pump red roses on your nose and you taste the sweet and smooth chocolate on your lips, remember the true feeling of love. In all, remember that no matter how commercialized Valentine’s Day will become; the true meaning will always be about love. Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate the people that you love and to remember how loved you are! Happy Valentine’s Day Harriton!