v By Alyssa Bickford

   Boxes shaped like hearts full of varieties of chocolates… Tasty chalk-like hearts with cheesy sayings written all over them… Heart shaped cookies… Roses, flowers everywhere…

   All of these things are history!  To many Valentine’s Day has become known as Single Awareness Day. This holiday has changed from lovey-dovey couples celebrating to a day of singles “celebrating” the fact they are single.

   The story line of how Valentine’s Day became a holiday is something similar that you would find in a multi-million dollar romance film. A guy name Valentine gets put in prison. One of the guard’s daughter volunteers at the prison, helping feed all the inmates. Well, Valentine ends up writing her a love note and signing it “Your Valentine”. What a cliché! Those kinds of things only happen in movies.

   I know this because when girls watch romance movies, the entire time we are dreaming of something like a movie love scene would happen in our own lives. We would find our true love in a week and live happily ever after.

   Now back to reality. Not having a significant other on Valentine’s Day leads to a lot of sadness. It is a wide known fact that depression soars during this time. It’s no fun being alone when much of the world celebrates being a couple. This is the practical matter behind Single Awareness Day.

   SAD is celebrated on the same day as Valentine’s Day. Some people prefer to celebrate it on Feb. 13 or 15, just so they don’t have to get caught up into all the couples running around. SAD may seem as a depressing holiday to couples, but to us singles, we see it as a day to mingle, and celebrate our independence.