Valentine’s Day is meant to be about expressing love for that special someone in your heart. But often times, the single people of the world don’t quite share in the excitement of expressed affection being flashed in every direction. Maybe that’s because Valentine’s Day was not intended for the poor, lonesome fellows anyway. Nonetheless the single people out there have strong opinions about the holiday.

Jack Lommen is a Junior at Cherry Creek High School who sees Valentine’s Day from a few angles. His relationship status: single. Its dark side, he says, seems to result in “an avenue of simplistic displays,” that take away from “ focusing on the heart and love,” and instead demotes its beauty to promoting the marketing of “chocolates and roses as petty symbols of love”.

But Valentine’s Day has all the right intentions when the commercialization is taken out of it according to Jack. “[He] does really like Valentine’s Day,, because it gives everyone a chance to appreciate the one you love, even though it does take the spontaneity out of it.” And when it comes to putting meaning into the day, for Jack, gift-giving should show, “something endearing because what really matters to [him] is that it’s personal and emotional,” and the date should be somewhere that’s significant to the relationship. He thinks of the perfect date as, “a comfort food place that suits the both of you.” Then, both people can be happily accounted for with a touch of sentiment.

Of course, high expectations are inescapable when Valentine’s Day’s entire purpose is to properly express the love you have for the other. The pressure falls heavily on “the guy because, theoretically; guys are responsible for taking the girl out on what is said to be the ‘most important’ date of the year,” Jack continues, “ guys pick the place, have to be the perfect gentleman, and find an incredible present.” This year he decided to express his love by taking, “a heart photo and printing on the back of it a quote [he] thought pertained to [his] friendship.” The worst imaginable Valentine’s date for Jack would be going to a quick, unthought-out place or “supermarket like King Soopers,” and grabbing something fast to eat like “fried chicken.” That kind of date “doesn’t show any understanding or appreciation” the couple has for each other, and that’s what Jack believes to be the purpose of Valentine’s Day. When asked about what type of relationship is best fit for the occasion Jack decided that it was, “definitely the couples that have been committed for a longer term. Only in a long term relationship are you able to fully express the deep feelings you have for one another.”

In terms of improving the holiday for everyone’s benefit, Jack believes, “ it should be more like Thanksgiving where we express our love for the people we are emotionally connected too” (a.k.a single friends included). The reason he is not fully on board with Valentine’s Day is because, “[He] prefers to show his love all year and not just pick one day” and “real love is something that’s starting to diminish in today’s society and we need it back,” according to the “hopeless romantic” side in him. As a romantic a single day could never be enough, but as a hopeless romantic, Jack could never dislike a day entirely devoted to the concept of love.