I used to be just like them. Those Valentine’s Day naysayers. Those curmudgeonly bastards, holed up in their basement apartments berating you for your indoctrination into the day of amour. I used to hate Valentine’s Day too. I called it a contrived holiday, produced by the corporate giants that promote it – just another way to get your money between Christmas and Easter. I felt like the holiday promoted tackiness and exclusivity. Think silk boxers and red lingerie. Think high heels, gold chains, boas and strap-ons. Valentine’s Day wasn’t about love, it was about treating your girl like a hooker. Just like those loveless sheepherders in your life I thought Valentine’s Day was a complete waste of time. Was I ever wrong.
Valentine’s Day is awesome. It’s all about love and sharing love. It’s about presenting the world with good vibes and chocolates. It’s about telling the people in your life they count. I mean, sure, you shouldn’t need a dedicated day in order to spread love but it’s easy to lose track, get distracted and forget to remind people that there’s good in their life. And now more than ever they need to hear it.
We live in a country involved in a corrupt war, run by a corrupt government where our voices are consistently silenced. We live in a country so despised throughout the world it’s not safe for us to leave. We live in a country where our forests are being sold to fund invasions and our vice president spends his days shooting elderly lawyers. He’s our elected leader and he hunts people – come on! You can’t tell me we don’t need some fucking love up in this shit.
Not like I’m telling you something you don’t already know. You’re like me – we’re into love. We hold our heads high in the gray rain. We slide gracefully through life’s challenges giving knowing glances and smiling sublime smiles. We breathe in the earth’s love, let it fill our tired lungs and lift us up. We vibe. I love you and you love me and that’s radical. And that’s why we get Valentine’s Day and get why it’s so important.
But what about our fallen compatriots? Our Doubting Thomases? What do we do about them? We’re not going to win this thing alone, that’s obvious. We need all the love we can muster if we’re going to overcome these dark times. And that means we need everybody and in turn everybody needs us. It’s our job as harbingers of ardor, to spend our Valentine’s Day converting those loveless cynics. We need to drag them, kicking and screaming from their shortsighted spider holes of loneliness and despair and force them in front of a jury box filled with rosy tenderness.
So this Valentine’s Day I implore you. Put aside your plans for a little bit. Postpone your dinner reservations, delay sky-written proposals, and leave the handcuffs by the bedside. Beg your lover’s forgiveness and descend upon your skeptical acquaintances with fistfuls of rose petals and pockets of myrrh and make sweet sweet love to them. Make them see what you see.
I know this sounds arduous, and in many ways it is, but in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take. Sometimes words aren’t enough, sometimes to win minds you need to transcend language. No war is won without action, so get out there, find the haters in your life and make love to them. It’s the only way.
Is it your best friend? Connect deeply. Your boss? Make love work. Your landlord? Every house needs a solid foundation. Your brother? What’s more important than family?
Be a cupid, an angel of mercy and love for the world. Convert those with darkness in their hearts and sadness in their souls and make them love. Turn those frowns upside down. Then together we can rise up like amorous phoenixes and leave the world ablaze with love and empathy. Do me a small favor, however, when spreading the word of compassion use appropriate protection. Love is all we’re trying to share.