Valentine’s Day has passed, and more and more people have expressed their hatred towards the national love holiday this year.

I have always noticed this being a normalized thing, but as the years went on, the unnecessary hatred towards Valentine’s Day has increased by a long shot.

According to Rosesonly, Valentine’s Day is a national holiday that celebrates romantic love, friendship and admiration. On every Feb 14, people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family, and friends.

As of recently, the focus of Valentine’s Day has been directed towards primarily romantic partners, which is why some people may feel the need to express their hatred for the holiday.

When scrolling through social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram during the month of February, I see lots of people displaying the gifts they are giving to their romantic partners.

That is not the problem. The problem is when I take the time to scroll through the comments and I see a bunch of comments spreading negativity–not only towards the creator of the post, but even sometimes spreading negativity towards themself.

It should never get to that point. Imagine coming across a post that is displaying someone’s love for someone else, and you feel the need to express hate and negativity.

Even worse, seeing romantic couples in public and your automatic initiative is to feel bitter towards witnessing people express acts of love.

The hatred for Valentine’s Day has gotten to the point where people would walk into big retail stores and destroy the aisles dedicated for that holiday solely based on their own loneliness.

Another example of this is the social media trend where people would walk up to random couples in public and make them “swap phones,” which basically forces them to check one another’s phones to see if they are cheating.

Whether they were hiding things or not, as a stranger, that is not your place to command–especially since your initial motives were not genuine. It was pure pessimism and misery.

Lastly, Valentine’s Day should not only revolve around romantic partners. It should be more normalized to openly express your love and affection towards the loved ones in your life, even strangers at that point.

Yet again, this should not only be a Valentine’s Day act, but a year-round act that promotes affection and kindness to others instead of hatred and resentment.