Valentine’s Day

Today we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is customary for couples to exchange gifts with each other on this date. I think this tradition will continue today. I wanted to learn more about what is being celebrated and why we do it year after year. I then discovered that this date coincides with the beheading of a Christian priest who performed secret marriages against the orders of Emperor Claudius II. When Priest Valentine was discovered, he was arrested, tortured, and finally beheaded on February 14th.

It therefore seems important to me that, on a day when we celebrate the courage of one man, we also take care of our own courage. The courage to surrender ourselves to true love, and to celebrate our courage to demand our right to live in a world filled with peace, love, and respect.