A Valentine Realization

I told a friend, when she bemoaned her being alone on Valentine's day, that it was a Hallmark invention and we don't have to go along with it.

The Wikipedia entry for Velentine's Day (see quoted below) all the more convinces me that in its modern context, it is a mere commercial ploy:

(Saint) Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The day was originally a pagan festival that was renamed after two Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas.

And although I claim to be totally unaffected by the occasion, I remember now how it's actually a pleasant childhood memory. Growing up in a culture where affections are not openly expressed, I remember that it was probably only during Valentine's where I was able to express "I love you" to my parents through hand made cards that we did as craft projects in school during the day. I remember cutting out red colored paper hearts and pasting them into quarter folded white bond papers. I took pride in being able to make my valentine cards as creatively as I could - mosaics from tiny heart pieces, heart shaped cards instead of plain squares, pop - ups, ruffles. Because I was not into childhood crushes, the primary recipients of my cards were my parents and my friends. I remember holding the cards for my parents on my way home and handing it to them knowing it was one of the very few ways I was able to show them my affection.

I think I stopped giving valentine cards to my parents when I got into high school, but I know I continued to do something special - small notes, hand made tokens, maybe - for my friends on Valentine's. I called it "heart's day" bent on my resolve to reframe it away from it's romantic associations and just to make it an opportunity to affirm and express affection to the people that matter in my life.

And then I grew old, or probably got busy - or probably all these technology has taken the place of hand made cards and hand written notes. Now that I realize it, I should make way again to the "hearts' day" that I used to have in my life, remembering also that there is a Divine Presence in my life that loved me first even before I was in existence, even before I knew the existence of love. Happy Heart's Day everyone!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, great is thy faithfulness O Lord”. Lamentations 3:22-23