Alright, so this is not the typical rant about the over commercialization of Valentine's Day that everyone seems to write this time of year. I am one of the few people I know who actually truly loves this holiday. And not just because it's fun to get a card from every girl in your class just because they have to, or because I love crappy candy hearts. It's also not because I'm married and no longer have to worry about spending the holiday alone. I've loved it ever since before I understood why it was so important to impress that cute girl.
I was that little boy who wrote the card and didn't sign his name, sent the roses even if I knew the girl wouldn't give me anything back. I embarrassed myself more than once with awkward shows of pubescent "love". I was also apparently one of the one few guys in my high school who didn't feel the desire to break up with the girl just before V-Day in order to avoid the whole mess. I guess that makes me a romantic?
Valentine's is the first of our great Catholic holidays. Well, not so much Catholic per se, but at least named after a Catholic Saint. The irony of a holiday about love and marriage surrounding priest is not lost on me, but then neither is the one where every drinks green beer and can't remember what happened the next day. But honestly, the story of St. Valentine is that he was martyred for bringing young Christian couples together against the wishes of the Roman Emperor. He believed in that love so much he died for it, even though his beliefs prevented him from courting or marrying himself. This is a man I can respect.
He spent the holiday single, for obvious reasons. (Of course, it wasn't a holiday yet then, but who's counting.) Not only was he not getting any at the time, he wasn't getting any EVER! Love meant enough to him that didn't matter, as long as other were able to be happy. Now I'm not trying to be the happy married person that tells all the single people "Just be happy because at least someone is getting loved, even if it's not you." You are still getting loved, almost everyone is, because not all love is romantic. St. Valentine's Day needs to be about all kinds of love, like a father or mother for their children, or a priest for his congregation, or a person for their fellowman.
So whether or not you think that too many people want your money in exchange for trinkets that only commercialize and cheapen love, just for me, think of what the holiday means, or at least what it could mean to you, if you let it.
