Ok, maybe I'm the Valentine's Grinch. I think Valentine's is a greeting card/restaurant/candy company conspiracy to make as much money as possible now that Christmas is over. I remember being a single man and doing all that I could to woo my now wife, and Valentine's was that one day that I had to make very special. It's not to say there isn't a place to woo your wife. But why does Valentine's Day have to stick out above all the other days? Also, lines like this from Wikipedia do not help me to be less cynical: "Due to a concentrated marketing effort, Valentine's Day is celebrated in some East Asian countries with Chinese and South Koreans spending the most money on Valentine's gifts."
So what is Valentine's Day really about? There is not much historically verifiable about the story, but legend has it that a Roman Catholic priest named Valentinus was martyred for officiating the weddings of Christian couples. The Roman Emperor at the time had issued an edict banning marriages, believing unwed soldiers would fight more ferociously without the encumbrances of a wife. Valentinus refused to comply and was imprisoned and eventually executed.
Father O'Gara of Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland recounts this part of the story:
So what is Valentine's Day really about? There is not much historically verifiable about the story, but legend has it that a Roman Catholic priest named Valentinus was martyred for officiating the weddings of Christian couples. The Roman Emperor at the time had issued an edict banning marriages, believing unwed soldiers would fight more ferociously without the encumbrances of a wife. Valentinus refused to comply and was imprisoned and eventually executed.
Father O'Gara of Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland recounts this part of the story:
One of the men who was to judge him in line with the Roman law at the time was a man called Asterius, whose daughter was blind. He was supposed to have prayed with and healed the young girl with such astonishing effect that Asterius himself became Christian as a result."
In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three part execution of a beating, stoning, and finally decapitation all because of his stand for Christian marriage. The story goes that the last words he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic missives by signing it, "from your Valentine."
Now how this went from being a story of martyrdom to a holiday that benefits Hallmark and See's Candies and the restaurant industry is again, a marvelous marketing scheme that continues to mesmerize the world. Not to take away from the festivities and the honor that women should receive from men, let's simply remember Valentine's Day is a day for marketing love, not love itself.
This is a public service message from the mean old Mr. Grinch. Happy Valentine's Day! Bah Humbug!
(Shhh...don't tell my wife about this post. I'm busy working on my Valentine's card for her, picking up the See's candies, and getting ready to take her out to dinner.)
This is a public service message from the mean old Mr. Grinch. Happy Valentine's Day! Bah Humbug!
(Shhh...don't tell my wife about this post. I'm busy working on my Valentine's card for her, picking up the See's candies, and getting ready to take her out to dinner.)