February 15 declared Singles Awareness Day

13 February, 2013

'I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day,' writes lyricist Lenore Diane in her poem 'Cupid Rhymes with Stupid'. And, there are many in the world who are proud of their singleton status and assert that one doesn't necessarily need to be in a relationship to enjoy life. Such people have created the Singles Appreciation Day (SAD) to treat and give a gift to themselves on February 14.

It is being acclaimed that being single is a blessing and a great reason to have fun. The colour for celebration of SAD is green instead of red reserved for the romantic couples. On SAD, single people gather to commiserate their happy single status.

Singletons often call Valentine's Day a 'Hallmark Holiday'. As a singleton points out ' Valentine's Day sucks and is really a conspiracy thought up by Hallmark to make single people feel like second class citizens'. Thus, in a way, SAD serves as an alternative to Valentine's Day for people who are single, that is, not involved in a romantic relationship. Some people observe SAD do so out of spite for Valentine's Day because of commercialization of the noble feeling of love.

"Tame the insidious voices that make you feel worthless or small and celebrate your own magnificence every day," urges the motivational expert Patricia Spadaro to people who are singletons. “If you don’t want to be in a committed relationship with someone, don’t let the good times take over your decisions," she adds.

"In response to the huge push by retailers for us to buy all of their candy, flowers and greeting cards, February 15 has been declared Singles Awareness Day! This is the day that all of the single people can proudly stand up and show that it is OKAY to be single," declares www.singlesawareness.com website. With a break from commercialism to honour one's single existence, the support for SAD is growing every year, claims the website.

Here is a self-explanatory verse by Lenore Diane: “You may not like what I have to say; / Alas, I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day. / Perhaps I was single a little too long; / Or maybe it was that Linkin Park song. / One thing is for certain, I believe love is great; /But, I’ll take spontaneity over a calendar date.”

In a similar vein, the last stanza of Joseph Vincent's lyrics on the day goes like this: S.A.D No valentine for me / And Imma be alright if you could only see / That today's just a day and if it's meant to be /There's always next year, just wait and see.

WISHING ALL SINGLETONS, A HAPPY SAD!