Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 February 2006 08:09:11
Well, today is another one of those days which you either get or you don't. For some of us it's just another day on the calender, for others it's an excuse to get slushy, for others it's a day when singleness is particularly bought into focus and the painful.
I like to say I come into category one, it's just another day, but I'm not sure there isn't just a touch of three which creeps in.
That said, I think that in our contempory society, the ideals of love, commitment and romantic idealism are to be cherished and so valentines day is a day to be celebrated and supported on that basis by the whole community.
For single people to start damning valentines day or being cynical or self-pitying about it is to give up hope. Hope possibly that one's own situation may change, but not just that, (because for some celibacy and singlehood is a choice -not a burden to be grudgingly endured). Rather it is also a day that gives hope for our society, that love really will find way. For out of love (particularly when partnered with communication and hard work) comes commitment, partnership, in some cases children, healthy stable relationships and a number of other positive things which underpin our society. Too often I think we seperate agape love totally from the eros love, which is celebrated today, and forget that it is eros love which, ideally, leads to partnerships and family (of whichever shape involving a couple). Even as single people we benefit from living in a society with these partnerships.