The Suitcase Lady

Love

February 10, 2015, 8:00 pm

I’ve always been an incurable romantic. I love everything about Valentine’s Day: the lacy hearts, the candy in heart shaped boxes and the abundance of flowers. And all this brightness, sweetness and beauty arrives in the gray, cold month of February when it is most needed.

An added bonus is that even Christians do not know exactly which of its three Saint Valentines the holiday is honoring. No one gets insulted if I say, “Happy Valentine’s Day”. This is a stress free and low key holiday.

But one thing has always troubled me. The emphasis on Valentine’s Day is on romantic love; girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives and lovers. Sadly, romantic love is a gift of pure chance, and Cupid’s arrows are notoriously random. You’re lucky if you are in love.

Everyone, however, does need to have love and to give love in order to be a happy human being. Fortunately, many kinds of love exist, and Valentine’s Day can be expanded to celebrate love’s myriad manifestations such as:

  • The love teachers give to their students, even the troubled ones
  • The love given by medical workers especially those who go into war zones and epidemic hot spots
  • The love given to the elderly by workers in assisted livings and nursing homes
  • The love environmentalists give to the earth

The Beatles got it right again, “All you need is love”. Doesn’t say it is only that romantic stuff that counts.

 


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