The Smelker Seven

Valentine's Hoopla

Personally, I think Valentine's Day is a ploy by card manufacturers to make some money because Christmas is gone and the next 'big' holiday is not until Mother's Day! And the sad thing most people don't know who Valentine was, or why the day is celebrated. I have to wonder if those who don't follow Christianity knew it was a day held in memory of a man who died as a Christian martyr whether they would be swapping cards, chocolates and roses?

Some of my single friends, and those in College (and high school) lament that they don't have a 'significant other' to share this day with; and many high schoolers dread going to school because what if they don't have flowers? (Remember those days when people would count how many flowers you had, and you JUST knew that was the ONLY way to rate your popularity?) I hear of parents sending flowers to school in case their child doesn't receive any from school mates.

For two consecutive years when I was in high school I was on the 'flower committee'. The headmaster of our school, Peter Nixon, was a compassionate man. He called us into his office and asked how many students weren't going to receive flowers, and then he pulled the money out of his pocket and said, "Buy each one of those students a flower. I don't want anyone to feel left out on Valentine's Day." I have never heard of a principal of a school doing something like that before or since, and both years it was a substantial amount of money he laid out.

My school has since closed down, and Peter Nixon lives in Australia; but to my mind he depicts all that is good about Valentine's Day.

Labels: Valentine's Day

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 1:30 PM