{"id":4760,"date":"2017-02-14T13:19:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?p=4760"},"modified":"2018-02-12T10:14:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T17:14:37","slug":"valentines-day-billion-dollar-heart-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2017\/02\/valentines-day-billion-dollar-heart-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Billion-Dollar Heart Problem: 7 Non-Consumer Ways To Do Valentine’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This just in: Americans will spend about 18 Billion dollars buying stuff for their sweethearts today.<\/p>\n

18 Billion. I have to write that out because I don\u2019t even know how many zeroes that entails.<\/p>\n

This is nuts, people. I mean, we could use that money to\u00a0build a giant wall.\u00a0<\/em>Or like, pay for healthcare for every child in America, or something crazy like that.<\/p>\n

$18 billion would also cover our National Parks budget for about 8 years. Someone, not naming any names, could do a whole lot of damage to Old Faithful and Yosemite Falls in the space of 8 years.<\/p>\n

Or $18 billion could fund the National Endowment for the Arts for a few decades.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to hate on Valentine\u2019s Day. A holiday designated for love? No problem. That\u2019s fantastic. We need all the love we can get. But when did \u201clove\u201d get saddled with all this stuff? Billions and billions of dollars worth of stuff?<\/p>\n

Because while some of this money is spent on nice dinners and good wine (which I am ALL FOR, if my spouse is reading), I\u2019d venture that most of it is spent on flowers, jewelry, stuffed animals, and any other number of things that come in the shape of a heart. Which, tomorrow, will be marked down 80% at Walgreen\u2019s and Target and every other store in America. Not long after that, much of it will be in a landfill.<\/p>\n

Do you know how much plastic crap my kids are going to bring home from school today? I don\u2019t even want to think about it. And do not get me started on the glitter bombs that will be falling out of a thousand tiny envelopes.<\/p>\n

Truth is, today is just one of the many days that draws attention to our consumer sickness. That sickness is big, and multi-layered, and it\u2019s not Saint Valentine\u2019s fault. It\u2019s also not the fault of Baby Jesus or the Easter Bunny; or Saint Patrick, the Great Pumpkin or Uncle Sam. On every one of these days, we wade through the sea of sugar and cheap plastic crap that will ultimately flood the landfills we use to hide our addiction. The dam will only hold for so long.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s an environmental concern, and a sweatshop concern. But more than anything, I\u2019m concerned about the real heart problem underlying all the paper and diamond ones. The real emptiness that might make us feel like we *have* to buy this stuff, or else we have somehow failed at the whole love thing.<\/p>\n

More to the point, this day\u00a0is a condemnation of the\u00a0scarcity mentality\u2026 The one that tells us we cannot possibly afford to insure all of our children\u2013or educate them, or provide them with clean water and air, or protect the resources for their retirement someday\u2013when clearly, we have all the money in the world to spend on\u2026 What, exactly? Another engraved picture frame? Another charm for that bracelet? Another stuffed bear\u00a0with heart-shaped eyes\u2026<\/p>\n

\"hearts-937664_640\"<\/p>\n

This is not to say that all gifts, ever, are bad. And\u00a0slowing the holiday retail machine is not exactly going to save the environment or fix our healthcare crisis. But practicing\u00a0a bit of mindfulness about our spending and gifting can go a long way to change our thinking about what is needed, what is important, and what is worthwhile. And that shift might, in turn, change our thinking about what we can, and cannot afford\u2026 As a family, as a country, and as people who have to inhabit this earth together long after the landfills overflow and the rivers run dry.<\/p>\n

Here are a few ideas for how to celebrate this day of love without breaking the bank\u2013or contributing to our collective national junk pile.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Quality time:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>have a game night with your family, or watch a movie together. Take your date for a walk if it\u2019s nice out, or visit a city spot you both love.<\/li>\n
  2. Food:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Make dinner for someone you love. Or, better yet\u2013dessert.<\/li>\n
  3. Love letters:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Maybe it\u2019s because my love language is \u201cwords of affirmation,\u201d but I never tire of getting nice notes\u2026 From my spouse, my kids, my church people, readers (ahem), etc. Card, post-it, scratched in the dust on my car, I don\u2019t care. Words matter, and good words go a long, long way. Make a long list of reasons why you love your person, and give it to them.<\/li>\n
  4. Acts of Service:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>While we\u2019re on the love languages\u2026 Fold your partner\u2019s laundry, or take their car to be detailed, or run some other errand that they hate, but that needs to be done. If you think that\u2019s not sexy, you haven\u2019t been married very long.<\/li>\n
  5. Be still.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>I have a 6-year-old who is crazy active (and almost as big as me), but still cannot get enough hugs and kisses. If he could sit in my lap for 2 hours every day, I think he would do it. Sadly, do you know how often I have 2 hours to devote to sitting still with him? Not often. But maybe today I do. Seems like a small but powerful thing.<\/li>\n
  6. Gifts that Keep Giving.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Ok, spend some money after all, but not on stuff. Donate to a cause that is near and dear to your significant other\u2013or better yet, something that is important to both of you. I\u2019m giving to the National Parks Service for my man today, because some of our best memories together are in those parks\u2026 and let\u2019s face it, under the current administration, Smokey the Bear and company need all the help they can get.<\/li>\n
  7. Share the love.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Maybe your family could go volunteer together somewhere. Or go visit a neighbor or church friend who might be alone. Take them a homemade card or some cookies, or just hang out awhile.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What about you? What are you doing to enact some love on the world today? Whatever it is, I hope it brings joy to your little corner of the world\u2026 with as few glitter casualties as possible.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This just in: Americans will spend about 18 Billion dollars buying stuff for their sweethearts today. 18 Billion. I have to write that out because I don\u2019t even know how many zeroes that entails. This is nuts, people. I mean, we could use that money to\u00a0build a giant wall.\u00a0Or like, pay for healthcare for every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":4761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[636,1416,1418,1417,1326,629],"class_list":["post-4760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-community","tag-consumerism","tag-environmentalism","tag-gift-ideas","tag-minimalism","tag-preservation","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Billion-Dollar Heart Problem: 7 Non-Consumer Ways To Do Valentine's Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Americans will spend $18 billion on Valentine's Day junk this year. What else could we do with that much money? 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