I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. It's not that I'm against flowers and chocolate (never against chocolate!), it's more that I resent the push to buy them (or have them bought for me) once a year on a particular day. To me, something nice on any other day of the year would mean more for being unexpected. And as for a celebration of romantic love, that's nice, but what about all the other love that gets us through, from our friends, our families, even our pets? That kind of love is all around us, and I think that's just as worthy of being celebrated. To celebrate that love, here's Schopenhauer for Singles Appreciation Day. Schopenhauer had deeply pessimistic views on love and marriage, considering them simply the ways our instinct to procreate fools us into having children. Although he wasn't a believer in romantic love, he did have a succession of poodles, all named Atman (for the Sanskrit word for the essential self), that he adored. Love is all you need!