“Galentine’s” parties and “DUMPlings”: The status of romance in America and the surprising path to our best lives
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2024
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Americans are spending more on Valentine’s Day this year than ever before—a record $25.8 billion. Paradoxically, today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Combining the two days feels a little like holding a birthday party and a funeral at the same time. The one is filled with romance, dining, and chocolates; the other connotes fasting, deprivation, and discipline. In actuality, the two are essential to each other in ways that are transformative for our souls and our culture.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Valentine's Day, February the 14th, 2024. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison |
| 0:08.6 | Forum, narrating today's article written by Dr. Jim Denison. Would you like your marriage and other |
| 0:15.5 | significant relationships to be stronger and more loving? The answer is found in a place many of us would never think to look. |
| 0:23.6 | Americans are spending more on Valentine's Day this year than ever before, a record $25.8 billion. |
| 0:31.0 | However, this does not mean that romance in America is healthier than ever. |
| 0:35.4 | For more than half of today's spending, about $14.2 billion, |
| 0:39.7 | is on significant others, from pets to friends and coworkers. Gallantine parties have been held |
| 0:46.2 | leading up to Valentine's Day for women who are not in a romantic relationship. |
| 0:51.5 | The Chinese food restaurant, P.F. Chang's, is offering free |
| 0:55.1 | dumplings for anyone who's recently been dumped and needs some heartbreak comfort food. |
| 1:01.3 | A majority of single Americans aren't looking for a romance today or at any other time. |
| 1:07.4 | Paradoxically, today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. |
| 1:12.0 | Many people will abstain from consuming meat and will wear crosses on their foreheads made with ashes from last year's Palm Sunday Fonds. |
| 1:20.5 | Combining the two days feels a little like holding a birthday party and a funeral at the same time. |
| 1:26.5 | The one is filled with romance, dining, and chocolates. |
| 1:29.4 | The other connotes fasting, deprivation, and discipline. In actuality, the two are essential to each other |
| 1:36.2 | in ways that are transformative for our souls and our culture. St. Valentine was, by some accounts, |
| 1:42.6 | a Roman priest and physician who was beheaded by the Emperor Claudius II on this day in AD 270. |
| 1:50.5 | Other sources identify him as the Bishop of Turney, Italy. |
| 1:53.9 | According to legend, he healed his jailer's blind daughter, then left her a note on the day of his martyrdom signed from your Valentine. |
| 2:02.3 | He is venerated today as the patron saint of beekeepers, epilepsy, and, of course, engaged |
| 2:08.1 | couples and happy marriages. But his example points less to a one-day celebration of romance, |
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