The Grand Gesture
Yet I doubt the Grand Gesture is what's important -- it's the idea that someone would be willing to make a Grand Gesture in the first place.
However much we say that Valentine's Day is all hype and crass commercialism and crafty advertising, and claim not to buy into it, probably every woman secretly hopes that her man (or, for those who are SAD -- Single, Available and Desperate -- any man) will do something to celebrate her worth to him on this day. I don't think women are out looking for the Grand Gesture. I think we just want a little appreciation, affirmation, acknowledgement.
For some reason we females tend to be insecure. This explains all the jokes revolving around "Does this dress make me look fat?"-type of questions. We want to be told, no, you don't look fat, because to a convoluted female brain that means "You are beautiful", which translates into "I still find you attractive", which leads to "I love you". Popular culture has planted in women's minds the idea that the unlovely will be the unloved, and we are always afraid of turning into one of the said unlovely for fear of losing (or never getting) a man's love.
On Valentine's Day, women the world over hope that their man will do something to express his love; as I've said, I don't think it necessarily has to be a Grand Gesture. Something thoughtful and caring would probably mean so much more than giving her a bouquet of 99 roses at grossly inflated prices.
Talking about roses -- yesterday's papers carried a story about a guy who got up at 4am, drove a four-and-a-half hours from Penang to Cameron Highlands to get 214 stalks of roses, drove back, got them wrapped by a local florist, and presented them to a girl who already has a boyfriend, all on the same day. He said the roses cost only $408 in Camerons, compared to $2,000 if he'd purchased them in Penang -- Camerons is, as far as I know, the only place in Malaysia with rose farms. If they don't come from Camerons, they're imported. Roses can't survive in the ordinary Malaysian climate.
Everybody's now wondering what the lady's boyfriend must be thinking. Is he feeling the pressure to top that Grand Gesture? Does he feel that his manhood is being threatened? (Men can be so weird about these things...) One of my friends had the last say, though. Asked whether he'd feel that he needed to do something equally spectacular in such a situation, he said:
"I have two years of history with my girlfriend. I don't need to try to compete with this guy; something like this shouldn't be able to shake my relationship with her." I think that's a wise statement; Grand Gestures are all very well, but it's character and commitment that counts at the end of the day. That's real love, folks.
UPDATE:
Thanks to Lone for pointing me to this --
Perak state mufti (Islamic religious advisor) says Muslims can be considered apostates if they celebrate Valentine's Day
The rationale behind this is that Valentine's Day supposedly commemorates Saint Valentine's death, and Saint Valentine was a Catholic priest. Therefore, celebrating Valentine's Day is against Islamic teachings.
I'm wondering what happened to all that "muhibbah" (racial & religious harmony) stuff? And could the Prime Minister be considered an apostate for having sent out 1,500 Christmas cards in December and "celebrating" together with the Christian community?! Really, the things some people say...
(For more on the history of Valentine's Day, see here and here.)