It’s safe to assume that any child who went through CCD or Catholic school knows the religious story behind Valentine’s Day. However, as a society, we have turned it into more than just a feast day – now, it is the universal day of love. I find this day especially useful to show a neglected group of people how much I love them – my family and friends.

In Spanish-speaking countries it is known as “Dia del Amor y la Amistad.” Growing up in this culture, my parents always taught me to forget boyfriends and instead place an emphasis on our love as a family and the friendships I had cultivated. I would excitedly buy boxes of valentines with pencils or packages of candy attached, and write their names in my best penmanship. As you get older, these friendships and acts of love are fewer and far between, but tend to mean more. Friends accompany you through grief, heartbreak, joy and terrible exam grades. Despite this, we forget to remind our friends how much we appreciate and recognize them.

If we don’t treat our friends with the respect they deserve, they can feel used or emotionally fatigued. This is especially true since the natural progression of life leads most people to link themselves with one special person for the rest of their lives, procreate and forget about the rest of the people who got them there. Do you see where the problem lies? If you are going to spend forever with this person, you have forever to show them your love and appreciation, but we forget to love everyone else in our lives. When was the last Valentine’s Day that a friend openly expressed how much they love you?

Family is another essential group in the matrix of love. While we didn’t pick them, we are also grateful for the lessons (good and bad) they have helped us learn. Of course they are celebrated on their birthdays, as that’s the one day of the year reserved for them. Valentine’s Day, however, is an opportunity to celebrate the bond between you and that family member, or all of you as a group.

I recognize that this is all easier said than done. We all have hectic lives, and I too will undoubtedly forget someone while licking my Valentine’s Day envelopes closed. This serves as a reminder that we are all human, and can sometimes make mistakes. So if your calendar says February 15th and you remember that you were supposed to call your best friend at the University of Oregon the day before, do it. She, like anyone else, will hopefully recognize the effort and be grateful to speak to you, even if you are a day late.