You will see them on Tuesday night in the restaurants of our cities. Hand in hand, they take their seats, gazing uncomfortably at each other with a simulated look of love. One will wonder why they have to pay for such an expensive meal when there are perfectly good leftovers at home. The other has to be up early for an important meeting.
And yet they will persevere, so that you, dear viewer, can see their meals, their outfits and, most essentially, their love on your social media feeds tomorrow. That's how Valentine's Day goes. A confected occasion that serves neither married couples, nor singles, nor those, as a different generation once said, who are "courting".
Indeed the only people who bask in this public celebration of a private feeling are those who feel they have something to prove. He must love me, they crow on Facebook, because the meal was so expensive! She must love me, they gloat on Instagram, because my gift was so shiny! The rest of us, quietly expressing our feelings to our loved ones every day of the year, just scroll on by.
