Happy Valentines Day Lovers and Cynics Alike
cynic - someone who is critical of the motives of others
I'm sick of all the valentines day cynicism. Whats so wrong about taking ONE DAY out of your busy schedule to make it a POINT to celebrate something as wonderful as Love?
Why? Oh, because Hallmark and the candy companies happen to have cashed in on it? The only thing worse than consumerism is people who shit on something that doesn't HAVE TO BE about consumerism. The only thing more shallow than gobs of candy and cheap satin hearts with cheesy sentiments on them are people who think that's all the holiday is about. Theres no law saying you HAVE to buy a valentines day card from a store. theres no law saying you have to buy chocolate or jewelry. The IDEA is to celebrate LOVE... L...O...V...E.. You can do that in a number of ways w/o bowing down to the golden calf of consumerism. If only you took a few moments of your precious time to think about it. THATS the best way to celebrate love. With your time and creativity. Show the ones you love in your life a little extra special attention. Yeah, you're supposed to show love EVERY day...that doesn't mean it's not fun or a good thing to make a special day to honor and celebrate it.
Like birthdays... Everyone has one. Everyone of your friends is glad you're in thier life. Glad you were born. But that doesn't mean they can show it or honor it every day... To celebrate the day you were born is to honor you, your life...to share with you thier appreciation for your value. Valentines Day is no different really. Its to celebrate a concept, a notion, a value..a very real energy we all share. Love SHOULD BE honored. It SHOULD be celebrated. Just like Ceremony and Ritual are methods of honoring something like a value or concept or a date of a special event... Holidays are designed to inspire. To remind us of important things.
Look, if anyones got a reason to hate Valentines Day its me. I've been crushed more times by "love" than I care to count. But I don't. In fact, it makes me want to honor it MORE. I love love. I love my capacity to love. Every day I strive to get closer and closer to loving myself so that I can learn just what it means to be in love with someone else. Sometimes I find myself failing miserably and I want to throw in the towel. Give up. All the more reason to want to celebrate Valentines Day, if you ask me. Because a life without Love is empty. A world without love is meaningless and miserable and cold. The whole point to Life is to learn to love, both yourself and everyone around you. To find wholeness in yourself and share that wholeness with someone special and consequently the world around you. Love connects us all.....get it? LOVE CONNECTS US ALL. So I dont see whats so wrong about celebrating such a gift. A gift we were given to share.
Its NOT about chocolate. That's only one symbol of love because chocolate is an aphrodesiac..its a SYMBOL...yeah the candy companies cash in on it...that doesnt mean the VALUE OF THE SYMBOL has to be cheapend. Your intentions behind a gift are what counts. A valentines day card is a SYMBOL... its words of love hand written to the one you love. Many people arent very good at writing thier feelings so some buy the card with the perfect sentiment on it. Again, nothing wrong with that, is there? Its the intention behind the action of giving that matters. Flowers...symbolic of Love because love BLOOMS.
There are thousands of ways to show the people in your life that you honor and cherish the love that you share. That is what the holiday is really about.
It all started with a priest (whos name was Valentine) who married couples in secret against the law ofthe Roman Emperor Claudius who didnt want men to marry so he could keep them for his war machine of an army. He was arrested and sentanced to death but fell in love with his jailers daughter and before he was martyred, sent her a love note signed "From your Valentine".
There are also pagan ceremonies and feasts for heathen gods as origins of the holiday as well. All holidays begin with a history. Same as Christmas, Halloween and Easter... And I find it disturbingly sad that the one holiday that gets the most animosity and pessimism and cynicism is Valentines day... a holiday to celebrate something as precious as Love.\
its a fine thing to be anti-consumerist and not want to focus on the cheapness that it brings to the holiday. but that shouldnt stop people from honoring the spirit of the holiday.
imagine the world if we never celebrated anything. no christmas , no halloween, no birthdays, no rites of spring, no summer solstice, no weddings or handfastings.... holidays arent about consumerism but many people reduce it to that themselves.
So this is for all you cynics, nay-sayers and skeptics... This is my Valentine to you. My wish for you all is to find, feel and celebrate the Love in your lives... today and every day. Because nothing in this world is more important or more precious than Love.
Happy Valentines Day.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
~ Moulan Rouge ~
"They say if one understands himself, he understands
all people. But I say to you, when one loves people,
he learns something about himself."
- Kahil Gibran -
I'm sick of all the valentines day cynicism. Whats so wrong about taking ONE DAY out of your busy schedule to make it a POINT to celebrate something as wonderful as Love?
Why? Oh, because Hallmark and the candy companies happen to have cashed in on it? The only thing worse than consumerism is people who shit on something that doesn't HAVE TO BE about consumerism. The only thing more shallow than gobs of candy and cheap satin hearts with cheesy sentiments on them are people who think that's all the holiday is about. Theres no law saying you HAVE to buy a valentines day card from a store. theres no law saying you have to buy chocolate or jewelry. The IDEA is to celebrate LOVE... L...O...V...E.. You can do that in a number of ways w/o bowing down to the golden calf of consumerism. If only you took a few moments of your precious time to think about it. THATS the best way to celebrate love. With your time and creativity. Show the ones you love in your life a little extra special attention. Yeah, you're supposed to show love EVERY day...that doesn't mean it's not fun or a good thing to make a special day to honor and celebrate it.
Like birthdays... Everyone has one. Everyone of your friends is glad you're in thier life. Glad you were born. But that doesn't mean they can show it or honor it every day... To celebrate the day you were born is to honor you, your life...to share with you thier appreciation for your value. Valentines Day is no different really. Its to celebrate a concept, a notion, a value..a very real energy we all share. Love SHOULD BE honored. It SHOULD be celebrated. Just like Ceremony and Ritual are methods of honoring something like a value or concept or a date of a special event... Holidays are designed to inspire. To remind us of important things.
Look, if anyones got a reason to hate Valentines Day its me. I've been crushed more times by "love" than I care to count. But I don't. In fact, it makes me want to honor it MORE. I love love. I love my capacity to love. Every day I strive to get closer and closer to loving myself so that I can learn just what it means to be in love with someone else. Sometimes I find myself failing miserably and I want to throw in the towel. Give up. All the more reason to want to celebrate Valentines Day, if you ask me. Because a life without Love is empty. A world without love is meaningless and miserable and cold. The whole point to Life is to learn to love, both yourself and everyone around you. To find wholeness in yourself and share that wholeness with someone special and consequently the world around you. Love connects us all.....get it? LOVE CONNECTS US ALL. So I dont see whats so wrong about celebrating such a gift. A gift we were given to share.
Its NOT about chocolate. That's only one symbol of love because chocolate is an aphrodesiac..its a SYMBOL...yeah the candy companies cash in on it...that doesnt mean the VALUE OF THE SYMBOL has to be cheapend. Your intentions behind a gift are what counts. A valentines day card is a SYMBOL... its words of love hand written to the one you love. Many people arent very good at writing thier feelings so some buy the card with the perfect sentiment on it. Again, nothing wrong with that, is there? Its the intention behind the action of giving that matters. Flowers...symbolic of Love because love BLOOMS.
There are thousands of ways to show the people in your life that you honor and cherish the love that you share. That is what the holiday is really about.
It all started with a priest (whos name was Valentine) who married couples in secret against the law ofthe Roman Emperor Claudius who didnt want men to marry so he could keep them for his war machine of an army. He was arrested and sentanced to death but fell in love with his jailers daughter and before he was martyred, sent her a love note signed "From your Valentine".
There are also pagan ceremonies and feasts for heathen gods as origins of the holiday as well. All holidays begin with a history. Same as Christmas, Halloween and Easter... And I find it disturbingly sad that the one holiday that gets the most animosity and pessimism and cynicism is Valentines day... a holiday to celebrate something as precious as Love.\
its a fine thing to be anti-consumerist and not want to focus on the cheapness that it brings to the holiday. but that shouldnt stop people from honoring the spirit of the holiday.
imagine the world if we never celebrated anything. no christmas , no halloween, no birthdays, no rites of spring, no summer solstice, no weddings or handfastings.... holidays arent about consumerism but many people reduce it to that themselves.
So this is for all you cynics, nay-sayers and skeptics... This is my Valentine to you. My wish for you all is to find, feel and celebrate the Love in your lives... today and every day. Because nothing in this world is more important or more precious than Love.
Happy Valentines Day.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
~ Moulan Rouge ~
"They say if one understands himself, he understands
all people. But I say to you, when one loves people,
he learns something about himself."
- Kahil Gibran -