(Hey, I made this, click it for a bigger version.)

I don’t have anything against Valentine’s Day. This year I can take it or leave it, since I’m flying solo at the moment.

A lot of people I know, regardless of their relationship status, are openly hostile toward it, because they see it as a manufactured holiday, or one that has become artificial. I agree with that, but I can make the same criticism about pretty much any mainstream holiday. I don’t see why Valentine’s should bear the brunt of the criticism. If you want to get pissed about that, Christmas is the primary offender.

Now of course my perspective is that of someone who isn’t in a relationship, and has rarely been in one whenever the “holiday” rolls around, so make of that what you will. I’m not going to spend any effort defending myself against being called naive or idealistic or whatever.

At any rate, my thing is that getting mad about Valentine’s and “opting out” and whatnot is a big cop out. Just because it’s crass and commercial and materialistic doesn’t mean you have to treat it that way. The bottom line is that it’s an extra opportunity to show your significant other that you love him/her, and you can express that in many ways that don’t involve spending a ton of money. It can be a card or a note or a favor, or a modest dinner together, or whatever. What’s wrong with that? The idea of doing something nice for my girlfriend/wife, etc. seems pretty cool to me. I hope I’d never live to see the day when I wasn’t happy to do it.

So, the one thing that does irritate me is anyone who’s lucky enough to be in a relationship but wastes Valentine’s Day by getting pissy and/or boycotting the day out of principle. Suck it up, buy a card, and quit your damn “woe is me, I have a loved one I have to show appreciation for” bellyaching. I’m sorry it’s such a chore to be in a relationship.

Nope, that doesn’t wash with me. Hit me up when you have a real gripe.

Anyway, happy Valentine’s Day, y’all.

Having said that…

I am not an optimist or a positive thinker. I’m a cynic, if you will. A lot of times cynical folks justify being cynical by saying that they’re just being realistic. I’m cognizant of that, and I’m certainly guilty of it to varying degrees. So yes, I can admit I have a problem. Although the degree to which it’s a “problem” is debatable.

Anyway.

Seems to me there are two types of positive people:

• The kind that are often described as “bubbly” or “cloying,” and are often blissfully ignorant to an annoying degree and have a positive-thinker cliché holstered and ready to draw like Doc fucking Holliday at the O.K. Corral. (“You can do anything if you put your mind to it.” etc.)
• The kind that are… I guess more passive in their positive attitudes. They don’t push it on you, but they exhude it constantly, and inspire you to be positive through example. They are a pleasure to be around, they make you feel good about yourself, and you feel like a better person just for having known them. They are not the least bit ignorant, and they have sage advice if you ask for it, but don’t offer it unsolicited.

I think it’s obvious from the editorial slant which people I prefer to be around. So, to all of you out there from the second group (or, hell, even the first), I ask you this:

How do you do it?

I was reading an essay the other day extolling the virtues of a positive attitude, which I think we can all agree are more or less obvious.

“You can’t fake it,” the writer said, and I tend to agree with that, but here’s the thing…

If you don’t have a positive attitude and you can’t fake one, then where does it come from?

In short, what makes you believe?

How to you muster enthusiasm for a job you don’t even like, or for activities you don’t enjoy? How do you believe in self-determination when everything you determine to do is somehow thwarted? How do you paint yourself back out of a corner? How do you decide between necessary evils? How do you belive the best about people when you are constantly disappointed? What makes you expend positive energy to seemingly no positive end? How do you believe anybody can do anything when you know they can’t?

I don’t have a particular agenda here, and nothing has happened to set me off on this line of thinking, It’s just something I’ve always wondered. I just don’t understand it. Maybe I lack the capacity. “Explaining color to one who is blind,” and that sort of thing. I know these are questions we all face in some capacity, but there’s a fundamental difference in the way we handle them, and that’s what interests me.

So do you, in fact, “fake it ’til you make it?” That doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the spirit of things, if so. Or do you…

Hmph, that’s all I can think of, which is of course why I’m asking.

The other day, I got home and noticed that the comb was gone. No big deal. I figured I’d just lost it somewhere. I misplace stuff like that so often that I don’t even worry about it.

Today, I was getting out of my desk chair and heard a light thump.

The comb was lying on the floor.

I have no earthly idea where it came from.

Of course, I could be overreacting. It’s probably also a result of trying to sound “proper.” Throughout school we were all constantly admonished against the evils of writing in the second person. I guess some folks never catch on that it’s OK to say “you” sometimes.

People trying to sound smart might also use a word like “admonish.”

Bonus points if they add “quite” in front of it.

But…

I really can’t get behind the One Laptop Per Child initiative.

I just think that people in developing nations have needs that are lot more basic than the need to surf teh internets.

The project head responds to that criticism: “People say if a child is malnourished, he doesn’t have drinking water, he’s sick, why do you want to give him a laptop? Substitute the word education for laptop and you’ll never ask that question again.”

OK. So the child will be educated, but still sick and hungry?

While computers should certainly be a part of any modern education, a computer does not automatically equal education (or health, for that matter). Trust me, I know plenty of morons who can operate a computer.

Of course, I also know plenty who can’t…

Case in point: the other day somebody asked me if I was attending/watching a college football game that night, and I replied that I couldn’t because I had a class.

“Whatcha gonna be when you grow up?” he asked.

And that’s really the question, ain’t it?

But… I’ve invested waaaaay too much time to bail out now.