Valentine’s Day is filled with expensive, limited, pre-fixed dinner reservations at overly crowded restaurants. Some men and women feel pressured to get away, spend all the money, and broadcast their affection for one another on social media or on the girl group chat.
Personally, I don’t need any of the above things and think the selling of “love” on and around Valentine’s Day is overdone and entirely untrue.
Love isn’t Chanel No. 5, red roses, or an elaborate chocolate heart solely on Feb. 14. True love, the kind that lasts a lifetime, is a choice — day in, day out.
Love is a choice, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be romantic. And it’s time for conservatives to make it look good.
The younger generation is isolated and alone. They are glued to the digital world and afraid of engaging in real life. Now, some of this can be a good thing. Teenage pregnancies, drug use, and promiscuity are all lower. But it can also lead to no one getting married and having babies.
Nearly half of my messages are from younger women who wonder, “Can I have it all? Is there a young man willing to pursue me, treat me with respect, and be a present husband and father?”
Maybe they need to see people in their circles, in society broadly, and in real life, demonstrate what a real relationship looks like. The opening of doors, the friendly flirtation, the holding hands, and a man picking up the tab.
Recently, actress Reese Witherspoon said on a podcast that she thinks this generation is struggling because they don’t have rom-coms or sitcoms to show them the trial-and-error of the ask, the pursuit, and sometimes the heartache. Sure, Hollywood was never real life, but behind some storylines and scripts were the glimmers of realness most in the audience could relate to.
Romance can be demonstrated by conservatives to be relatable and achievable.
Have you ever seen a picture of President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan beaming at each other? Prince William and Princess Kate sneaking a flirtatious smile in the midst of serious royal events? Or, President Donald Trump praising first lady Melania Trump as a “very smart woman?” It has to warm even the coldest left-wing heart.
Alas, it is not romantic to have multiple baby mamas (X owner Elon Musk), oversexualize women (Playboy founder Hugh Hefner), or undermine and treat women as a second class (all the Groypers).
What is romantic is something the modern-day Left has long told women they should never desire — a monogamous marriage with children.
We must make families look good, and the core of that family is the mother and father. When they can get away, go on a date night, or be seen dancing in the kitchen in front of the children, that is romantic. When we can highlight those things on social media and in the public eye, not for likes or in a faux manner, but for real… that’s a good thing.
Chappell Roan, a Grammy-winning top 40 artist, made news last year when she said that motherhood seemed like hell. The response was mixed. Feminists said she should be heard and that motherhood is tougher than being a father, etc., etc. And mothers everywhere called her selfish and awful.
But maybe Roan was speaking from the context of how society treats women once they’re married and no longer in a space that is deemed by feminists as a positive and independent contribution to society. Maybe motherhood isn’t appealing to the Generation Z stars and many others under the age of 40 because they view marriage as being about a “ball and chain” for a man and the end of opportunity for the woman.
It is romantic to choose one woman, pursue her, serve her, and love her until your dying day.
It’s romantic to provide emotionally, physically, and financially.
It’s romantic to digitally detox together. To work on your mental, emotional, and physical well-being together.
I mean, it’s pretty romantic to get into shape or to desire to live longer in a healthy way for and with your partner.
It’s romantic to buy them their favorite candy for $3 at the corner gas station.
It’s romantic to get flowers, just because, not just for Valentine’s Day.
It’s romantic to create a playlist (back in my day on a CD-ROM; today, maybe on Apple Music or Spotify).
I personally like it when my husband sends me a host of Instagram reels and memes he knows I’ll find funny, or that are inside jokes between us… That’s romantic.
It’s romantic to grow old together, to celebrate decades of life, to celebrate motherhood and fatherhood in all its struggles and shapes and forms.
Quality time, words of affirmation, snuggling up to watch a movie, taking out the trash every week, letting your spouse sleep in while you take the children to school and start that never ending pile of laundry… all romantic.
RESTORING AMERICA: AGING WITH DIGNITY SHOULD NOT BE A LUXURY
It’s romantic to wake up and choose the same person, every day, through the hard times and the good. And it’s vital that we show how romantic it is to stick it out when things get tough, when weight is gained, when the bank account is low, as well as not to take the lustful out for the hotter younger gal, or the comfort of the older, richer dude, or the simplicity of being alone and not being responsible for anyone else’s feelings or well-being.
Conservatives: work on romanticizing marriage, this Valentine’s Day and all days.