Even when I still dated, the holiday didn't mean much to me. Yet over the years, I've come to appreciate SAD in a different way.

I know what you're expecting. Nope, I'm not going to launch into some petty ego masturbation while riffling through bitter love-related nostalgia. There's nothing love related that I feel bitter about; that's what I told the bitch, anyway. People are getting their couple on in one way or another and I respect that.

But this is also a day of unity for everyone else.

This is the day where many single people from far and wide organize into roving bands of desperate, fun-loving, para-military ninja commandos, stumbling with ruthless efficiency into pubs and bars across the globe. They are capable, they are drunk, they are united.

This is the day when lonely people have a little more courage to make an ass of themselves in front of someone they like. Maybe most of us just blow off the opportunity (I do), but there are some who are compelled by and end up getting play because of today. They are united, literally and figuratively.

This is the day where you can bitch, praise, mock, slander, adore, enjoy, revile, savor, or just ignore SAD and find at least several other people who will tell you to get down with your bad self. In apathy or otherwise, they are united.

So the idea of love unites, even if love itself doesn't unite some people today.

This is why I appreciate SAD. This is also why I will drink on a weekday.

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