Valentine's Day Discussion

(Again, this was something I originally posted on a forum, then decided to post here. Topics brought up included: Is love real? Is love just sexual attraction? Can animals feel love? Isn't Valentine's Day overcommericalized? Couldn't love just be a biological process that could potentially be bottled and sold? At least, those are the ones I talk about here.)

(This should also make my roommate happy, since I'm finally mentioning him)

Valentine's Day is really just another day for me. This year, I basically slept through the whole thing because it's cold and snowy, so all my classes got cancelled. My roommate did the same. He actually tells me he has a curse associated with Valentine's Day. Though he's been reasonably successful in his social life, he's always alone on Valentine's Day. He's even had girls break up with him on the 13th and get back together with him on the 15th or 16th just to keep the curse going. It's kind of funny and sad at the same time, but he takes it in stride. I have to give him credit for that.

Back to me. I'm a loner. I've never really gotten very close to anyone. I've had one girlfriend in my entire life, and she's now my ex. I refer to her as The Ex. We don't talk about The Ex. Anyway, though I'm really not experienced in such things, I believe love is a real thing. Animals feeling love? I don't know, but if the ape can learn sign language, it's probably smart enough to at least think it loves something. I also believe love goes deeper than mere sexual urges. We love our family members, don't we? For most of us, there's no sexual urges there. Maybe I'm just a lonely slob who's deluding himself, but I believe love is real, and that two people can have a serious emotional connection that has nothing to do with sex. Of course, given the choice, I'd probably go for someone who I can connect with on a deep emotional level who also happens to be smoking hot.

Is Valentine's Day overcommercialized? Yes, but what major holiday isn't these days? Can love really be just a chemical reaction in our brains that could one day be bottled and sold? Probably, but that's the case for pretty much any human emotion. Our brain operates on chemical reactions, so of course certain chemicals will change how we think and feel. I don't think bottling love will be any replacement for the real thing though. If a chemical can be an effective replacement for actual love toward a real person, then by that logic, masturbation is just as good as sex.

Then again, who am I to talk?