To Eros Is Human

   Valentine's Day is such a great holiday.  The problem is that it is a holiday.  A holiday is a day away from something or a designated day to commemorate special events or people.  The English use the word in place of vacation.  They go on holiday from work; this makes sense.  We all need a holiday from work.  Labor Day is a day off from work; Memorial Day is a day from work and a day to commemorate those who have served our country. 

  We have days celebrating religious events, cultures, nationalities, the beginning of the year, the beginning of our country, ends of wars, and national heroes.  It seems right to set aside special days to memorialize events and people we don’t want to forget.

  We are a celebratory culture, and we have days to celebrate everything from avocados to zippers.  (Yes, Dorothy, there is a National Zipper Day.)  Valentine’s Day shares its day with seven commemorations including Ferris Wheel Day and there are twenty-five others during the week.  By the end of February there will be forty-one more celebrations including Presidents Day, Mardis Gras, Single-Tasking Day, and for Pete’s sake “For Pete’s Sake Day;” and oh come on: National Spay Day?  (Get real!) 

  Sword swallowers have an international day, and there is “Open That Bottle Nite.”  For some folks I think that is every night.  We even have a day to celebrate a big fat, homely, rat-looking, burrowing animal – Groundhog Day.  When will it end?

     While I accept our national holidays commemorating people and the reasons for them, I do not quite understand creating holidays setting aside days to commemorate people who are near and dear to us.  Along with Valentine’s Day we have mothers and fathers days, grandparents day, kids day, grandkids day, bosses and secretaries days, teachers day, and who knows how many more.   Are we worried we will forget them, or is it just a greeting card conspiracy?

     Now, don’t take me wrong.  I love Valentine’s Day; I just don’t like the idea that we think we need it.  If it is a day to take off from something, what is it? Concealing our affection for our loved ones 364 days a year?  I certainly hope not.   Are we setting aside a day to remember them because we are afraid we will forget them?  Again, I hope not, and I don’t think it is so. 

  If it is simply a designated day to commemorate our love for them, shouldn’t we be doing that every day?  If we are extolling our love to our “loved ones” every day, do we need a holiday?  Isn’t that redundant?  Maybe, that it isn’t redundant is the problem.

     My friend Dick Clark (No, not that one.) once told me, “Don’t start anything you don’t plan on doing forever.”  Well, this holiday thing has been going for quite a while.  It isn’t going to stop, but there is an alternative:  celebrate your love for your husband, wife, lover, mother, father, children, grandchildren, family and friends tomorrow, the day after that, and every day.  Tell them you love them every day; make Valentine’s Day truly redundant.  Make it a celebration of round-the-clock daily experience.  Give them a truly yours message every day. 

  If that makes sense, if it works for you, try making Sunday, Christmas and especially Easter redundant as well.

  To Eros is human; to agape is divine.