This year, as Valentine’s Day came and went, I pondered what this day was all about.

The day of love.

The history of this day of love is varied depending on which historical site you do your research on, but I’m not here to talk about that. Love is an everyday thing after all, not a holiday that comes around once a year.

It just got me to thinking about something.
Survival. The basic food and water thing.

We’ve all very likely heard statistics like these before:
Providing clean water and sanitation services around the world would cost $22.6Billion a year.
(source: World Health Organization)

To solve the world food crisis would cost $30Billion a year.
(source: United Nations)

Of course it’s not as simple as throwing money at a problem and I’m not a researcher or health expert so this isn’t about what is or is not possible, it’s just something that occurred to me.

Whenever these kind of statistics are thrown around the immediate outcry is for others to solve the problem. The “If we stopped spending so much on war we could….” Or “If the 1% of the world’s wealthy would just….” Or “If large corporations spent money on helping this issue or that issue instead of dodging taxes we could….”

Okay, fair enough, but my thought was… What are WE willing to do?

You know, you and I. Can we do anything without drastically changing our lives, to help those who are in need, in our own communities, our own countries, and around the world?
Or is it only up to THEM? You know, the corporations, governments, and rich people?

Consider this:
According to the National Retail Federation, American’s spent almost $19Billion on Valentine’s Day this year.
$7 to $8 Billion alone on cards.
(By the way, as much as men complain about having to buy for this holiday 85% of Valentine’s Day cards are purchased by women, not men.)

And that’s nothing compared to the big kahuna of the Christmas Holiday season. Again, according to the National Retail Foundation, Holiday sales in November and December of 2014 totaled just over $616 BILLION.

Two Holidays, barely three months apart.

And it’s not just Holidays. In the US we spend $25Billion a year on recreational Golf.
The list is endless, but the point is this.
We can blame everyone else for not doing something to solve whatever problem or cause we want to move forward. But what are WE willing to do?

Would you give up the cost of celebrating one day of the year to celebrate something that exists every day?

Holding governments and corporations accountable is noble and the right thing to do.
Perhaps, however, we should start with holding ourselves accountable first.
Remember that old adage that when you point your finger at someone else, there are three more fingers pointing back at you.