Romance is dead.

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, the holiday long touted for its connection to matters of the heart, it appears that people are just too busy.

The way I have come to this conclusion is that my bright and lovely editor sent me on a mission to discover the trends that our student population have taken on for Valentine’s Day.

I set about my usual investigation method of approaching strangers in the Coffee Shop and asking flat out their plans.

After the first fifteen minutes, I grew frustrated.

After the first hour, my heart broke.

The only gem that arose was bittersweet.

“My boyfriend moved to Germany, so we are going to Skype,” said Sierra Biagas, psychology and pre-med major. “We are going to pop in the same movie and watch it together over Skype.”

What has happened?

I know that the common complaint was once that Valentine’s Day was just too commercialized, but people still did something special.

So what if it is just an excuse to buy flowers, chocolates, cards, dinners, and jewelry? People need to be reminded from time to time that they have a heart.

If you are single, that does not preclude you from celebrating the day. Often, groups of people can get together to form “lonely heart” clubs, a long tradition of satirizing the holiday.

Or the single person could break out the old romantic comedy, pajama combination and have a warm evening in.

In any event, this doesn’t have to be a day that lives up to Yeardley Smith’s quote, “Romance is dead – it was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold of piece by piece.”

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this blog are the opinions of Mike Wormley and do not reflect the opinions or views of any other Pioneer employees.

To contact Mike Wormley, email staffwriter4@occc.edu.