SouthFlorida.com | Teen Link South Florida

Thanksgiving is a day to be grateful for everything in our lives, so why not a day to celebrate everyone we love?

Valentine's Day is more than just chocolate and flowers, it's a special day to tell our friends and family that we love them.

Feb. 14 is usually thought of as a day set aside exclusively for couples. Singles often feel left out when it comes to this holiday, even lonely and unloved.

But it doesn't have to be this way. A different approach to Valentine's Day makes it a day of love and appreciation that anyone and everyone can celebrate and enjoy.

Showing a friend how much he or she means to you is a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day, even if you do have a significant other. The love between friends and family is just as strong as, if not stronger than, the love between a couple.

This love should therefore be embraced and given importance on the "day of love."

If you do have a significant other, there's nothing wrong with being as lovey-dovey as can be on this special day. Affection should not be shown solely through elaborate gifts, however. It's the subtleties that really count.

Most people seem to have lost sight of the reason why Valentine's Day is celebrated. Too much importance has been put on the gifts given during the day, and not enough importance is put on the day's true purpose.

Many critics argue that the day has turned into a commercial holiday, void of any true significance.

Although we buy an excess of chocolate and flowers on the day in mid-February, the holiday's most important aspect is the meaning behind the gifts.

A Valentine's Day gift is a token of love and appreciation, not just a meaningless commercial good.

Love is a universal feeling, and it is often expressed to many more individuals in one's life than to just a significant other.

Valentine's Day should therefore be embraced as a celebration of the love we have in our lives.