Valentine's Day.
The day has come. ‘Singles Awareness Day’ as it is cynically being called by so many this year. It’s a day when people spend too much money on dead vegetation and fat-saturated sugar products, when they exchange mass-produced sentiments written by other people. It’s a day that venerates a saint that no one can really remember or can even truly identify. Some say it was yet another attempt to eclipse a pagan holiday while others claim it to be the invention of English aristocrats. Whatever its origins and whatever financial gains it brings about for a myriad of capitalizing corporate interests, there is at the core of this 14th day of February a message: love.
Love is a strange thing. On Valentine’s Day people love to express this sentiment for one another. But I propose that we look at things that go beyond the love we feel for those that are closest to us, for our significant others. We have every day, all year, to express this love. We have events like Birthdays and Anniversaries to commemorate our bonds, ties and undying passions. So then what is it exactly that I’m proposing? How about a little revolution?
In a world where innocent people become the victims of mass power struggles over imagined boundaries and so-called resources we could easily do without, where animals and the ecosystem fall victim to human excesses, there is so much more to look at and love. To gaze beyond our comfortable bubble of pink and red disposable confectioneries that we don’t really care about anyway would be a miracle.
I’m not saying abandon love for those significant others entirely. But how about expressing yourslef in a meaningful way? Instead of giving a giant stuffed animal that may have cost you $100 why not team up with the World Wildlife Federation and adopt a real life animal instead? For half the cost of that overpriced teddy bear you can adopt a polar bear, instead, and it will mean so much more! (More information on the WWF and their adoption program in Canada can be found at: http://www.wwf.ca/HowYouCanHelp/PandaStore/Adoptions.asp) Or have you ever thought of the elderly on days like today? Perhaps that grandparent who has lost a significant other? Spending the day with them would be a great thing. But going beyond that, why not look into an organization like Help the Aged, who have a program where you can be an active sponsor of the elderly in foreign countries. Especially in those places that have been ravaged by AIDs where the grandparents are once again forced into taking care of the young who are left behind in the wake of a silent genocide that is sweeping entire communities into early graves, the elderly need more support than ever. (Get more information on this program here: http://www.helptheaged.ca/adoptagran/adoptagranstart.htm) And of course there are countless other meaningful places where our money can go: Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Diabetes Association, any local Children’s Hospital (such as the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario), a special organization/foundation like Roger’s house, or how about the Children’s Wish Foundation? The options are endless.
At the end of the day I simply hope that your drive to express love extends beyond arm’s reach today to those in the world who need it most. There are so many on our planet - people, animals and even the planet itself - that are fighting just to survive. Our love can help that.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Love is a strange thing. On Valentine’s Day people love to express this sentiment for one another. But I propose that we look at things that go beyond the love we feel for those that are closest to us, for our significant others. We have every day, all year, to express this love. We have events like Birthdays and Anniversaries to commemorate our bonds, ties and undying passions. So then what is it exactly that I’m proposing? How about a little revolution?
In a world where innocent people become the victims of mass power struggles over imagined boundaries and so-called resources we could easily do without, where animals and the ecosystem fall victim to human excesses, there is so much more to look at and love. To gaze beyond our comfortable bubble of pink and red disposable confectioneries that we don’t really care about anyway would be a miracle.
I’m not saying abandon love for those significant others entirely. But how about expressing yourslef in a meaningful way? Instead of giving a giant stuffed animal that may have cost you $100 why not team up with the World Wildlife Federation and adopt a real life animal instead? For half the cost of that overpriced teddy bear you can adopt a polar bear, instead, and it will mean so much more! (More information on the WWF and their adoption program in Canada can be found at: http://www.wwf.ca/HowYouCanHelp/PandaStore/Adoptions.asp) Or have you ever thought of the elderly on days like today? Perhaps that grandparent who has lost a significant other? Spending the day with them would be a great thing. But going beyond that, why not look into an organization like Help the Aged, who have a program where you can be an active sponsor of the elderly in foreign countries. Especially in those places that have been ravaged by AIDs where the grandparents are once again forced into taking care of the young who are left behind in the wake of a silent genocide that is sweeping entire communities into early graves, the elderly need more support than ever. (Get more information on this program here: http://www.helptheaged.ca/adoptagran/adoptagranstart.htm) And of course there are countless other meaningful places where our money can go: Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Diabetes Association, any local Children’s Hospital (such as the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario), a special organization/foundation like Roger’s house, or how about the Children’s Wish Foundation? The options are endless.
At the end of the day I simply hope that your drive to express love extends beyond arm’s reach today to those in the world who need it most. There are so many on our planet - people, animals and even the planet itself - that are fighting just to survive. Our love can help that.
Happy Valentine’s Day.