Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Birds of a feather


Follow me
London, ON, November 2011
About this photo: Thematic explores pairs this week. You can, too: Just go here.
For as long as I can remember, I've been somewhat critical of Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and any other manufactured day designed to sell more stuff to folks who neither need nor want it. I'm not opposed to the act of celebrating the people closest to us, of course, but I do have issues when it's commercialized to the point of triviality, and to the point that we lose sight of the need to celebrate outside of these predefined dates.

Hallmark doesn't need to tell me I love my wife and kids on March 3rd. Or May 19th. Or any other day that I'm lucky enough to have with them.

Still, I saw this picture and thought it fit the sentiment of this particular day. Beyond the flowers, the chocolates, and the desperate clump of men who were crowding the card aisle at the pharmacy just a couple of hours ago, today is a reminder that life isn't lived alone. That we're connected to each other - whether we like it or not. I'm sure neither one of these birds will ever be buying a cellophane-wrapped card for each other. But their unspoken partnership (you follow me, and I'll try to make the journey easier for you) somehow speaks to me.

Your turn: Am I being too much of an anti-holiday curmudgeon here?

2 comments:

Kalei's Best Friend said...

U and I are on the same wavelength... I posted a blog similar to yours.. I came to the same view because when I worked retail in high school, I saw how people acted when it came to those holidays... I worked in gift wrapping and I was bribed, yelled at and every so often thanked for the gifts I wrapped... People get ugly at times when they hold off to the last minute to buy a gift that should not need reminding... I was at Costco and the men that swarmed the rose display was frickin'funny... they swarmed to those bouquets like white on rice... and I know u got the visual from this... lol

Kalei's Best Friend said...

here's the link....so u won't feel like a crumudgeon...lol
http://altadenahiker.blogspot.com/2012/02/thoughts-from-your-friendly-valentines.html