>>And I guess it's my European heritage, but I never quite understood the american way of celebrating Valentine's day and mother's day. IMHPO, if those holidays define the quality of your relationship, you have a major problem to begin with. What's wrong with taking home some flowers on a day other than Valentine's Day, or taking him/her out for a nice candel light dinner without needing a special occasion? But I guess that's just me...

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Saw this come up on my terminal and I couldn't help but respond in a fit of nationalistic fervor <g>.

I would opine that the rate of recognition, on an everyday basis (holidays not included), of these relationships with the requisite flowers, candy, candle light dinner, etc. is roughly equal in European and American societies.

Conversely, both continents have about the same rate of deadbeats that never recognize these significant relationships (on non-holidays).

However, we have special holidays that encourage the deadbeats to at least come across with the goods once a year.

Given these reasonable assumptions, our loved ones benefit at a slightly higher rate than their European counterparts.

QED <g>