Well, it is that time of the year again, when my ears get tired with the insistence of the daily over-hyped mantra – Happy Valentine`s Day. I should have waited until the 14th of February before I dropped this article. But I deemed it necessary to share some thoughts with you.For those so curious to read this I suggest you refrain from judging, or accusing me of being biased. Not that I am single or not single, but just that I got this knack for seeing things with what I call my “eighth eye” before resolving to doing it.So if you are ready to ride with me, then grab a flute of Moet & Chandon (my favorite champagne) or a glass of your favorite wine, and let`s go. What?... Oh! You don`t take alcohol? Ok. Then I recommend some natural fruit juice, Guava juice is the best. THE ORIGIN OF VALENTINE'S DAY...WHO THE HELL IS ST.VALENTINE?I have conducted a research on the origin of this St. Valentine`s Day. I am one of those people who never want to stick with the herd, or one of those who do not want to feel like they are being manoeuvred by some folks who think they can feed our minds with whatever stuff they want to feed our minds with. Note that this is far from the fact that I want to make some guys feel daunted. But I think none of us should get trapped into acting under coercion. Amidst the numerous stories surrounding this day, I think the origin of Valentine`s Day is still very misty. Stand forth, let us together get some answers and clear out this clutter because I for one cannot put up with this ambiguity any longer. What is the origin of Valentine`s day? Is this day worth commemorating? How should we and why should we celebrate it? First stop; let us probe into the various stories that define the origin of this day.Who was Valentine? This question is not an easy one to answer. Depending on which source you refer to, you might find one author making the case that there were two different men named Valentine whose lives were mixed together to form one legend, and another arguing that two different legends arose about the same man. Even still another author might say that there were three men named Valentine. Here are other synopses of different stories... Valentine as a young man, though not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, helped Christians during a time of persecution. He was caught and put in jail, became a believer there and was clubbed to death for this on February 14, 269. While in prison he is said to have sent messages to friends saying, "Remember your Valentine" and "I love you". It is also said that Valentine was a priest that secretly married couples, defying the law of Emperor Claudius who temporarily forbade marriages. Valentine was imprisoned for his faithfulness to Jesus and refusing to worship pagan gods. Making friends with the jailer’s daughter, he is said to have seen her healed through prayer, and on the date of his execution (Feb. 14th) he is said to written her a note signed "Your Valentine". On February 14 it was also believed that the young boys and girls of the villages would write down the names of every girl and place these names in a jar of which each young man would have to draw a name of a girl and this particular maiden would be their partner for the duration of the festival. Sometimes these parings would last a year and end up in marriage.Another Interesting origin is that St Valentine was the patron Saint of Epilepsy - reason was that he was supposedly a sufferer and took a keen interest in those who suffered from this affliction and also that those who suffered this disease were suffering from Valentine's sickness. (Can you believe this?) St Valentine's Day has roots in several different legends that have found their way to us through the ages. But whatever the odd mixture of origins, St Valentine's Day is now a day of romance, a day for sweethearts. It is the day that you show your friend or loved one that you care. But do you know what? I will not even want to insist on grasping some more knowledge about the origin of this day, because I think that now that we are all into it, insisting on getting the exact meaning of the day is derisory. Of course, love is the farthest reaching dream and I dare to say the most relevant, most evidential, most powerful dream of all. At some point in all our lives, we have known love, be it filial or erotic. We either showed love, or we have been loved. Love is the dream that is real, even when we have experienced the world of it, the end of it, the betrayal of it; it is evident that love remains inside of everything. A dream that comes true, it wants to exist, it does exist, it is all around us all the time.
