Trophies

I have written about the worst day of the year, Valentine's Day, from the man's perspective before, noting that it is a holy day of obligation mandating romance, making it incredibly unromantic and distasteful.  The only positive aspect is that there is at least the prospect  of intimacy at its merciful conclusion, though that prospect wanes with the years together.

Of course, for those not involved, by choice or circumstance, it's a day where the world tries to make you feel abnormal and insignificant.  Great "holiday."  And while certainly not universally true, I have noticed that this relationship "status" is sometimes especially important  for women, at least at Valentine's Day.  I think the Hallmark people will back me up on this one. However, men are certainly guilty of relationship status displays too- note the "trophy wife" phenomenon, for example.

Valentine's Day seems to be mostly about showing off trophies.  First and foremost, it is about showing everybody that you have a man.  But given that, Valentine's Day is about showing everybody how successful you are in the game, as measured by the quantity and quality of gifts.  Large mushy cards, large expensive killed flowers, large gemstones that may be publicly displayed, and large bills at expensive restaurants are all about demonstrating to the woman the man's devotion, so that she may have tangible evidence to show herself and others how successful she is in the game.  Of course, once married the opportunities for public displays diminish, as does the man's willingness to play the game, so the man delivers the least acceptable trophies, and the woman is content, no longer needing to display the trophies, with the reduced tokens. 

Wouldn't it be nice if Valentine's Day and all days were about love instead of the trophies?