The Day of Hearts

Good morning/afternoon/evening, oh readers of mine.



This is my mug. I got it last year at DragonCon for being one of the first X-hundred people to donate blood. In that picture there, the mug doesn't look like much. It is a mug with a tv show ad printed on it.

But the mug has a secret, as I found when washing it in hot water. When revealed, the mug makes a statement plain for all to see.


For those with difficulty making the picture out, the relevant bit is "Love sucks" printed on the side of a mug advertising a TV show about vampires.

"But Brian," you're probably saying. "This blog is supposed to be about seeing the good side in things! Your mug (while humorous) isn't in keeping with the theme of your other blog posts!"

You're right, of course, but the nature of this blog has always been to take a seeming negative and show the positive sides to it. That being the case, I beg your indulgence as I talk my way around to this post's point.

The dictionary.com definition of love is: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. (There are others, but let's go with the first one) The first association that leaps to mind for me (and most others I'm sure) is the notion of romantic love felt for one's spouse/partner/significant other. Certainly, that's the association that ties into the theme of Valentine's Day as we know it. It just doesn't have to be the only association.

I'm not necessarily talking about platonic love here, although that's probably the best alternative definition I can give you for what I mean. When young and in grade school, Valentine's Day was often spent making cards for other people in the class; people we barely know but are socialized into playing the Valentine's role with. I don't even remember the class from my first elementary school, nor could I tell you who I gave a homemade Valentine's card to. It didn't really mean anything to me at the time. Now that I'm older, the feeling has come full circle. I believe in being as genuinely caring as possible to everyone whether you are romantically involved or not.

I am not currently in a committed relationship with anyone. Maybe if I was I would feel differently about this; maybe I too would buy in to the notion of romance that Valentine's is supposed to be about. Maybe I would see a distinction between the way love with a partner works versus caring about the world at large. From this chair on this date, however, I don't. I believe if you are going to care about someone you should do it to the fullest extent possible and romance be damned.

This does not mean I am going to rush out and buy or make Valentine's Day cards for all my friends. Even if Valentine's wasn't an extremely commercially-driven holiday that I try not to support, Valentine's cards to all my friends would be awkward (yes, I'm thinking of the guys here).

What it does mean is that I will do my best to show the people in my life that I care about them whenever I can, be it on Valentine's Day or not. Genuinely caring about other people transcends a single holiday dedicated to the name of love.

And so in obstacles to opportunities fashion, I don't plan on letting Valentine's get me down. Instead I'm taking it as a reminder that my family and friends are very important to my life and that I should definitely not wait until a holiday or special occasion to show it.

So suck on that Valentine's! :)

As a bit of a teaser, the title of next week's Sunday blog post is: What I gave up for Lent. If you want to know, tune in next week.

PS: for those paying attention to the Chinese New Year. it's the year of the tiger. This guy is smiling about it and so should you!