Valentine’s Day is the most useless holiday on the calendar.

I realize this makes me sound like a grouchy single person that hates happiness and love, but I can assure you that this is only half true. Valentine’s Day is bad for reasons other than the fact that it idealizes marriage and relationships above being single and caring for yourself.

To begin, let’s compare it to other holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter all have been commercialized, but still function as a time to bring families and friends together. Halloween comes from old traditions and serves to give children a fun night away from school and responsibilities. Labor Day and Memorial Day both honor people and the hard work they do. New Year’s commemorates the ending of one year and the beginning of a new one.

Something else these other holidays have in common is that they are all days off from school and work, with the exception of restaurants and certain other businesses.

No one gets out of school or a day off from work for Valentine’s Day. It’s not a chance to bring family together to share a meal or celebrate a significant religious event. It doesn’t honor the hard work of masses of people or fallen soldiers.

Let’s look at the common “traditions” of this sad excuse for a holiday. People buy chocolate and flowers for their significant other, take them on fancy and sometimes expensive dates and treat them like royalty for one night.

But why is it necessary to have a special holiday just to show your significant other you care about them? Why is spending exorbitant amounts of money the best way to say “I love you”?

Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be the only time each year when you show appreciation that your partner hasn’t left you yet. A healthy relationship exists every hour of every day, and shouldn’t be acknowledged just because the calendar dictates it. If you truly love someone, buying them roses once a year is a terrible way to express that love.

Additionally, the entire culture around Valentine’s Day is very heteronormative. Often, the standard depiction is of a man coming home to his wife, presenting her with a dozen roses (or more if he really screwed up) and a heart-shaped box of chocolates, and taking her to a romantic candle-lit dinner. Not only is that kind of sexist, but the lack of representation from anyone except straight white people is frustrating. LGBTQIA+ people already have so little representation in the media, being excluded from a holiday that literally celebrates love is just the icing on the cake.

Now, I’m not saying that we should get rid of Valentine’s Day altogether. (The number of babies born in mid-November would plummet and the effects on the population would be catastrophic!) However, showing your significant other you care about them and appreciate them should not be a once-a-year event. Instead, take the time once a week to tell them that you love them, or do something to help them without being asked first. It’s really not that difficult.

Maybe if everyone were to follow this, there would be no more need for an entire national holiday dedicated to treating your significant other. Then again, without Valentine’s Day, there wouldn’t be the unofficial holiday of ridiculously cheap chocolate on Feb. 15!