I know I'm a day early, so sue me

I know that Valentine’s Day is one of those contrived festive anniversaries that is designed primarily as a marketing gimmick for manufacturers of cards, chocolates, perfumes, sexy undies and all the other accoutrements designed to let some poor sap declare his ongoing (or new) love and passion for an object of affection. Hopefully he’ll also get lucky thanks to his declaration.

I don’t care about the crass and commercial aspects of Valentine’s Day. I happen to like it.

Anyway, don’t all of our annual events have a commercial nature to them? Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays, Chinese New Year – all of them keep the marketing boys happy and at the same time they buoy the economy. That’s not such a bad thing in recessionary (or not) times. Many merchants rely on making 60 to 80 per cent of their annual sales during the Christmas season.

That’s notwithstanding, but I’ll return to my original point about liking Valentine’s Day. I like it because I am a romantic, and the concept of having a day turned over entirely to l’amour sits well with my sensibilities.

I’ve always been a romantic. I love happy endings in movies and stories, and to have somebody wonderfully female declare love and affection for me is worth more than any sum that might come my way. That is, of course, provided I hold tender feelings for her. If I don’t necessarily, but she declares her love anyway, that’s OK, too, because then I am touched and flattered.

The Beatles opined that “all you need is love.” A bit fatuous and simplistic, no doubt, but there is a truth to the premise. It has been suggested that we have two basic motivating forces in life: Faith and fear. Well, faith is an aspect of love. If you have love/faith then you cannot be fearful. If you are fraught with fear, then you cannot love or feel faith. I do believe that to be true.

But, romantic love is one of the finest impulses of all. To me. I love loving and I love being loved. The Valentine, if given in the right spirit, captures just such a feeling.

The world is a screwed up place. Always has been, always will be. But individuals retain a certain nobility that keeps it all going. A big part of that nobility is love.

So, candlelight and wine and soft music and possibly even dancing the horizontal tango; whatever it takes to make your February 14th wonderful is what I wish for you all.

Happy Valentine’s Day!