Valentines day... so much pressure!

This will be a quick post because I have homework but I have something to say. Why exactly do we celebrate Valentines day? Is it a religious holiday gone awry? Is it an American atrocity created (as many believe) by Hallmark and American greetings to gouge us all for $2.50? I was at Target, buying a card (there goes my $2.50) and I witnessed the strained deer- in- headlights faces of many (men and women by the way) desperately trying to express their feelings with a piece of card stock, covered in glitter and sappy over-sentimental things that some lonely guy wrote in the basement of his mothers house (where he still lives at the age of 47). Why don't we just do nice things for each other spontaneously throughout the year instead of this mad rush on Feb 13th against the hordes of people unable to express themselves with anything other than 12 flowers that will die and some wax tasting chocolate in the shape of a heart? Not that I am any better.. I bought my card and gift like all of the rest of the lambs to slaughter.. but I also buy (and receive) little things that tell me I am thought of more than just one day a year.