The Hallmark Holiday Part 1

I am often a cynic when random belief systems are integrated into popular culture.  When reflecting on one of the well known "chocolate holidays" I make an effort to find a basis of belief which feels real to me in modern times.  Researching the origin of St. Valentine leads this author back to valens  which can be defined as worthy, strong, or powerful according to most references.  Looking to Roman and Greek origins, the birth of St. Valentine, a common theme of martyrdom is its basis of life when moving toward the modern era.  This is intriguing to me as the current incarnation of the holiday is often fed by unrealistic expectations, broken hearts, and crushed dreams.Don't get me completely wrong ~ many find their true love and their heart's desire on this day that seems to vomit out red in a commercial deluge of hopes wrapped in dashing dreams.  Are men waiting for Barbie to drive up in the pink Corvette as much as us women look to Prince Charming to ride up on his white stallion?  

In today's world does love mean the self effacing martyrdom of the past or some as yet undefined plasticity?  Is that plasticity  evident in the inability that most individuals exhibit when attempting to "be themselves" as part of the ritual of dating?  In this respect I keep coming back to the term martyr as representative of valens. How many men and women today have sacrificed personal belief systems so they do not end up alone? 


  Now a person can celebrate "Singles Awareness Day" combating the stereotypical happily ever after expectation of modern society.  I say that we celebrate the Romanticism of chivalry, honor, and valor.  Love is a feeling, a hope realized in reality.  Love is a decision, not a fleeting desire to capture a prize or take a hostage.  Only in the tangible can the imagined be formed into substance.  A gentle breeze, the scent of roses on a midsummer night's air, the velvety smooth tactile embrace of hope in each other's arms.

Sonnet No. 18

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

   Thou art more lovely and more temperate: 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 

   And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 

   And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines, 

   By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; 

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 

   Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; 

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, 

   When in eternal lines to time thou growest; 

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, 

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

  William Shakespeare




I challenge you to find a way to act in a loving way, every day.  Express the passion you feel in life through positive actions that can change us all. It is time for a RENAISSANCE OF HUMANISM on the world stage, taking the ideals of valens out of the history book, giving them life.

Some of the greatest art, music, literature, science, and philosophy was born out of humanism as an ideal.  On this day of martyrs I choose to embrace the possibilities of an open mind and hopeful hart as my gift .

 Humanism relies on flexible thinking and being open to all of the possibilities in life and less concerned with the closed minded thinking of the past.  Yes it is a jump from Pixar to Shakespeare, but is it REALLY? Both celebrate the beauty that is born of a possibility, an idea, and forms finding a voice.  Let's get flexible and concern ourselves with each other rather than another Hallmark chocolate  holiday.