Valentine’s cards fall into brown paper bags as children barely 5-feet-tall glance into them to see what candies have been given. Some bemoan the amount of Fun Dips present in their bag this year, while other gloat that they’ve been given Sweethearts or Smarties.
Maybe not every elementary school had this particular ritual of putting candy into paper bags, but what most did have was the tradition of giving classmates Valentine’s cards and/or candy on Valentine’s Day.
Now, years after the last time we’ve caught a glimpse of these cards and candies, Valentine’s Day is just another day for many of us. Nobody makes a fuss about it any longer, and nobody gives each other Valentine’s cards, unless you are in a relationship.
Although Valentine’s Day is a holiday about love, we don’t always have to make it about romantic love. The Greeks proposed that there were four kinds of love. Storge stood for familial love. Phileo symbolized love between friends. Eros, as well all have come to know, represents romance. And agape was the selfless, unconditional love that transcended any circumstance.
Modern-day American media is obsessed with eros. Just take a glance at the amount of romance novels lining the shelves at Barnes and Noble or the amount of couple content on TikTok or Instagram. So much so that sometimes, we fail to see that “love” exists outside of romance or passion. I can love my neighbor simply because we’re part of the same community and we’re close. I can love my friends just as much as (and sometimes even more than) my romantic partners.
So what does this even have to do with Valentine’s Day? Sure, we’ve just established that romance certainly isn’t the only type of love in one’s life, but is that enough of an argument to bring back elementary-school-style, candy-filled Valentines’? Why would you want to give a Valentine’s card to that dude who sits next to you in Spanish class and coughs all day, every day?
Ever since stepping out of the 5th-grade classroom and moving on to a world where we were no longer bound by a single classroom all day, keeping friends and getting to know people has become harder and harder for most. You might sit beside someone for a whole year without learning anything about them besides their name, if that. And in high school, where your classes change every semester, why bother?
However, a greater sense of community has been proven by studies to bring positive results to schoolchildren. In a 2018 study done in Italy, it was found that feeling like part of a larger community positively impacted social skills, well-being, and decreased aggression among students.
Though one might argue that with high school comes more than 100 classmates, giving Valentine’s to those one is close with is never a bad decision. And sometimes, maybe that single pink card can make someone’s day.
So in an age where in-person friendships become harder and harder to sustain, maybe Fun Dips and Sweethearts candies are the solution we’re looking for.
