As we are all aware, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

And while everyone is going to go gaga over The Vow or Beauty and the Beast 3D to celebrate, I’m probably going to be in line for The Woman in Black to see Daniel Radcliffe play someone who isn’t Harry Potter.

I refuse to give sappy romance novels or archetypal chick flicks that Gerard Butler is not in (e.g. P.S. I Love You, chock-full of sexy Irish lilt and death) a chance, and I’m not 100 percent sure why.

It could be that I refuse to be the stereotypical woman who develops a strong connection with a work of fiction to make it easier to get in touch with her feminine side.

Or, quite possibly, it’s that real, genuine love stories are much better than anything Hollywood, Disney or Stephanie Meyer could come up with.

Take Jacob, for example. In the Old Testament, he was known as the crafty bastard who pretended to be his older brother Esau to receive his blind father’s blessing. But his love life was even more scandalous. He escaped his older brother’s wrath to live with his Uncle Laban. While he was there, he fell head over heels in love with Laban’s younger daughter Rachel, and asked for permission to marry her. Laban, an even craftier bastard, said he would give Jacob permission to marry his daughter as long as Jacob worked for him for seven years to pay off the bride price. Seven years and one night of marital consummation later, Jacob realized that Laban disguised Rachel’s older sister Leah with a veil and had married her to him instead. Undoubtedly pissed, Jacob was willing to work another seven years for his trickster uncle to pay the bride price for Rachel. He was successful, and incest and polygamy aside, it made for a great love story and a great test of both Jacob and Rachel’s patience and perseverance.

Speaking of polygamy, the Shah Jahan was another great romantic. If the 17th century Indian emperor’s name doesn’t ring any bells right away, his famous mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, will. He built it as extravagantly as he could for Mumtaz Mahal, the favorite of his three queens, after she died giving birth to their 14th child. Now it’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in India.

King Edward VIII went so far as to give up his throne for his girl. You would remember this story if you happened to see The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth and my favorite Aussie Geoffrey Rush. Eddie proposed to American Wallis Simpson just months after being crowned king in 1936. But being the head of the Church of England, it was most improper for him to marry a woman who had already been divorced, and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was threatening to resign over the charade. Not wanting to rock the boat any further, Eddie abdicated his throne and publicly announced, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.”

But the most notable story is of Saint Valentine, a Roman priest in the third century. He rebelled against Claudius II and illegally married young lovers in secret after the heartless emperor decreed that single men made better soldiers when they didn’t have a wife or girlfriend on their mind in battle. Valentine was eventually discovered and sentenced to death. Legend has it he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter during his final days alive, and wrote her a letter that was signed, “From your Valentine.”

Hence this wonderful Hallmark holiday that we celebrate Tuesday with blinding bright jewelry, expensive chocolates, outrageously large bouquets of flowers and very public displays of sickening affection.

Valentine’s Day tends to make me a little uneasy.

It’s not because I’m single and jealous of all the other couples madly in love.

In fact, it’s awesome getting a box of chocolates from my mother every year and not feeling obligated to share them.

But this one February day tends to become a huge public spectacle, and we tend to forget that we should love our boyfriend or girlfriend with the same excitement and energy 365 days a year.

It’s not a mandatory requirement to work 14 years, build a magnificent tomb or give up your throne for the one you love.
And if it is, trust me, you fall short by a long shot.

Just spend some time with your significant other and remind yourself exactly why you fell in love with him or her in the first place.

That’s what Valentine’s Day should really be about.