Typically, Valentine’s Day is thought to represent love. However, the cute red hearts that roam through stores often have the reverse effect.

For those less fortunate, these cute hearts and Valentine candies are constant degrading reminders of the love they don’t have.

Valentine’s Day also takes away from the key virtue that love should be shared with everyone every day, not just one day of the year.

Love is more than a stuffed bear or a box of chocolate. Love is best shown through words and affection. People should remind those they care about how much they mean to them with a simple, “I love you” everyday, not a life-size teddy bear on Feb. 14 every year.

There is no real meaning behind Valentine’s Day. The idea behind the day is to put others before yourself, but we should not tag one day in particular to do this. The story of St. Valentine and love should instead be a constant reminder of the importance of selflessness.

And the holiday often goes misunderstood.

In grades K-6, students find themselves receiving dozens of valentines depending on their class size. Students are often not taught the idea behind Valentine’s Day. Instead they are just taught that Feb. 14 is a day full of red hearts, cards, teddy bears and candy that is shared with the class.

Instead of hosting class parties where students receive pink frosted cupcakes and store-bought valentines with bite-sized candies attached, students should be taught the importance of sharing their love and practicing selflessness everyday, not just on this day in particular.

Valentine’s Day sends the wrong message to everyone everywhere. It supports the ideas of being selfless for one day and showing love on only that one day, when in fact the selfless acts of St. Valentine himself weren’t done solely on one day, but were practiced daily. This is the true message of St. Valentine and the one that should be taught everyday.