Should Valentine's Day be Abolished?

Viewer Mail — we love getting e-mail on “Weekend Live.” Each Sunday morning, I gather with my producers to decide on our question of the day. Some time there is an event or news story that drives us to a specific question. Some days, we just want to have a little fun. And so it was this past Sunday when we asked — with tongue planted firmly in cheek — "Should Valentine's Day be abolished?"

This prompted Alexis of Houston to ask indignantly:

“Why do you even spend precious airtime asking such a ridiculous question?”

Well Alexis, the question may seem ridiculous to you, but a fair number of our respondents thought it was a topic worthy of discussion. Take Thom from North Carolina for example:

“This ‘holiday’ is nothing more than a corporate scam being maintained be the card, candy and restaurant industries. It should be abolished immediately..."

John from Massachusetts writes:

“Yes, Valentine’s Day should be abolished because I forgot to get my girlfriend a gift.”

And I'm sure that many men will feel the pain that Carl is describing:

“Please abolish Valentine's Day. I am totally inept at buying gifts for my wife. Valentine's Day adds to the agony of her birthday, our anniversary and Christmas. I could have a 25% reduction in my annual Spousal Gift Purchase agony.”

And John from New York offered this wry observation:

“Valentine’s Day is a wonderful opportunity for a man in love, and onerous burden for a man who is married.”

We wrap up the anti-Valentine’s Days comments with Gary from California:

“There is no single day other than Valentine's more responsible for relational discord. Expectations are too high, and one-sided. It seems to me that days such as anniversaries are the better times for couples to celebrate meaningful relationships.”

I mentioned at the opening of the show some researchers believe that that Valentine's Day has its roots in a third century pagan ritual. Joe from Austin, Texas pounced on that:

“Why should it be abolished? Because it has roots in third century paganism? The Easter Bunny is pagan, should we abolish Easter? Halloween is a pagan ritual as well, should we abolish that? No, leave Valentine's Day alone, it's the one day a year a headache can't be an excuse and I shall not be denied.”

There are still plenty of people who believe that Valentine's Day is a holiday that is worthy of our attention; like Maria:

“Should Valentine's Day be abolished? Absolutely not!!! Okay, so we have lost sight of what Valentine's Day is about; Hallmark and every other card company has profited from Feb 14 – but seriously, what other day of the year do we have where our husband's send us flowers? It is the one day out of the year that we are able to celebrate romance whether it's cooking for our loved ones or sending them a barbershop quartet. In this day and age where romance is a dying theory and divorce rate is so high, why should we give up the one day that reminds us of our loved ones?”

And Dina from Nevada:

“When is all the nonsense going to stop? Valentine's Day has been around for a very long time, and there has never been an issue about it being abolished. Should Christmas be abolished because it is so commercialized? Valentine's Day is a special day to share your love with loved ones, just like grandparent's day, or secretary's day. People need to stop this nonsense and focus on issues of importance.”

From the island paradise of Hawaii we hear from BB:

“Soon the radicals will have all of our special days abolished. Then one day will be just like any other day. Then someone will promote the idea that all our days are special. Then what should we do when you guessed it, the radicals will want to abolish all our days. Maybe do away with days??? When and where will this foolishness end?”

Since my own birthday falls near V- Day, I can identify with this viewer who wrote:

“Valentine's Day is my birthday and I have always been shortchanged anyway. The way I figure it, if you get rid of Valentine's Day, NO One will ever remember my birthday!!”

And we close with Jamie from Tennessee:

“Abolish Valentine's Day??? Absolutely NOT! This is a purely innocent holiday, which makes everyone happy (and many rich!). It brings love and joy to the recipient, financial blessings to the vendors, of which Hallmark cards is indeed one, customers to the restaurants and promotes happiness for at least one day a year. I am so sick of the disgruntled few dictating life for the masses. I guarantee if they were to succeed in this, as they have tried with Christmas, we soon would be left with nothing to celebrate. What's wrong with letting those that want to, do and those that don't — don't! What a pity party nation we are becoming!”

Whoa, Jamie! Don't hold back — tell us what you really think!

Thank you all for your comments. I hope you will not view me as a heartless Valentine's Day Scrooge for asking this question. I'm all for expressing love and appreciation to the special people in your life. I think my problem with the holiday as it exists now is that couples are basically "guilted" into spending money on teddy bears, cards and flowers. Though you may choose to express your love for your special someone in a thousand thoughtful ways throughout the year — you either have to "play" the Valentine's game — or "pay" the consequences.

Will I play the game? You bet! I'm not crazy.

— Brian

“Weekend Live” hosted by Brian Wilson airs 12 – 2 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Send your comments to: weekendlive@foxnews.com.

Brian Wilson is a congressional correspondent for FOX News and anchor of the Sunday edition of "Weekend Live."