North Texas Daily

Today, millions of people will hand each other cards, gobble chocolates by the pound, and pack the candlelit tables of every Italian restaurant from sea to shining sea.

Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day with the kind of reverence often saved for religious holidays. The only difference is that people worship each other on Feb. 14, and considering how much money we spend on gifts every year, it looks like we wouldn’t have it any other way.

If all goes well and the flowers arrive on time, Valentine’s Day can be therapeutic, even fun, for couples who need that extra spark in their relationship.

But what if you’re single? Things start to take a darker turn. It’s almost embarrassing to be seen in public, particularly on a college campus where half the people you see appear to be glued together in three or four places.

You ever see that move where a couple briefly stops and kisses in the middle of the sidewalk before they part ways? It’s pretty irritating all year, but pulling those shenanigans today will probably get you mauled by a rabid pack of roving singles. Don’t play around with this.

But you know what? There’s an upside to flying solo on the sappiest day of the year. For one thing, there’s no risk of failure.

While lovers are sweating over their pricey dinner reservations and the fear that some critical element of their special day will end up a little less than “transcendently perfect,” single people can wear sweat pants and eat chicken fingers and wipe their greasy fingers on those sweat pants. It’s not love, but it’s certainly something.

Even if you’re lucky enough to have a special person in your life worth spending a few hundred bucks on chocolate, take a second to think about how you can spread the obnoxious love you share to the world outside your bubble.

You might take some of your huge gift fund and donate it to charity instead. It’s hardly radical.

Trust us, nothing is more attractive than compassion. Well, there might be a few things, but nobody ever said giving was easy.

Happy Valentine’s Day.