The stores are flooded with Valentine gifts of all sorts. It is a highly commercialized moment that is for many, a serious matter.
I remember my late childhood and adolescent years when the notion of love was a “life or death” reality. I remember the things I bought for a girl I admired and was too shy to give it to her.
Valentine gifts at that age, was generally a small box of chocolates. Most of the time, I ended up eating the gift myself since I was too inhibited to be forward with a girl.
St. Valentine, the namesake of the celebration, was a priest during the Christian tribulations of the 3rd Century CE. He was executed by Roman Emperor Auralien in 273 CE for his Christian faith.
His association with love and friendship did not come about until the publication of Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls (1382-1382) in the 14th Century. Chaucer, famous for his short story collection Canterbury Tales (1387-1400) wrote the poem connecting “February 14th – when birds were believed to pair off – with the celebration of love and mating, creating the tradition of, for instance Valentine’s Day cards and romantic, courtship-based holiday celebrations.”
I have found that love has several faces that we can find in our culture. The most genuine practitioners of this notion are children, young people and those adults that, at least for a moment, let go of their sense of order, because cognition, planning and routine tend to obscure and diminish true personal feelings.
The love most of us are acquainted with is the love of family and by extension, friends, community and country. We practice this version of love in gatherings and ceremonies where we recognize each other’s work for the greater good.
In time of danger to the community, love produces a commitment to its defense and welfare. 9/11 for example, created a general movement to military enlistment offices.
Patriotism that leads to military service comes from a powerful feeling of love for family, community and country. In the face of existential threats, love make a person rush to the flag, the standard that represents everything that we are as a people.
Perhaps the most difficult love to understand and upon which to act is the spiritual belief system that undergirds our religious faith. For most of the country, the teachings of our faith points to a transformative and unconditional love that appears as an unreachable ideal simply because we are human.
In the development of our culture and civilization there is a deliberate tendency to abandon our spirituality because it interferes with the structure of an ordered life. Even our visit to our churches are mostly a matter of ceremony.
True faith is supposed to be practiced as part of a genuine feeling of love. After all, Christ’s ministry was based on a very unique notion of that.
According to Chaucer, love is about the birds and the bees. It is a springtime ritual that commemorates the institutionalized nature of couples finding each other.
Love is also about a human journey that does not conclude, can lead to disappointment or worse. The classic Romeo and Juliet story is a lesson in that regard.
The hero in the a love story knows this and is prepared for a love that may be an unattainable concept. Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan couches it in terms of a journey to Ixtlan where a true warrior takes on the task of getting there knowing full well that he will never arrive.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
