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a2a Inspirations>
Valentines Day
February 14, 2005
Over the past week I have been inundated with
advertisements asking me to buy chocolates, flowers, go out
for dinner etc ... all in the name of Valentines Day.
I am all for romance, buying flowers as a gesture of
love and even having a day where we all make a special
effort to show our love and affection but I have always
struggled to accept the commercialism of this day.
Before a dozens red roses what did Valentines Day mean? I
realised over the weekend that I had no idea what the
origins of Valentines Day was so I thought I would do some
research. I found lots of textbook style reports on the
history as well as this creative approach.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived
in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago!
At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius.
I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one!
A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to
volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in
wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families.
As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This
made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy
idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would
not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to
allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law
was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly
wasn't going to support that law!
Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite
activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor
Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage
ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite
exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the
bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of
the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of
soldiers.
One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank
goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was
caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I
guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment
was death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful
things happened. Many young people came to the jail to
visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window.
They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison
guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell.
Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me
to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right
thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the
secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my
friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and
loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love
messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I
died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day,
people remember. But most importantly, they think about
love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor
Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of
love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't
be beaten! "
I am inspired today to express my love and friendship to
those close to me. I am inspired to do this without
chocolates and flowers. I am inspired to do this simply
from the heart.
Have an inspiring week!
Linda
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