Timism of the day: Who the hell is Valentine?

Timism of the day: 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't 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 "Third 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. How Should We Commemorate This Day Of Love? My address here goes especially to the young world. Not that I am ostracizing the older generation, but I am considering the fact that we young people have gotten a lot of energy we sometimes dissipate and orientate towards the wrong direction.

This day for sure should direct our focus towards the things that really matter not to us, but to those who need us so badly. Hey ladies catch your breadths o.k. because I know you really need that fancy silky lingerie you have been yearning for a while now and I am not going to take your sweetheart`s attention off it. You know why? Let me tell you why. I am not going to join those people who think that Valentine`s day is just a farce! My concern though is the meaning you give to it. How you spend it. I believe that everything on earth has got a purpose for existence, so is this day. But I do not want to think that this day has turned into a multi-million dollar industry, with an overwhelming number of cards, presents and even holidays being sold the world over to celebrate it. Neither do I want to see it as a plot by multinationals to impose Western culture elsewhere and increase their sales. Because if this is so, it is going to be not far from an abhorrent craze. In my opinion, this day should not be a day to show off that kind of “I got mine” attitude, giving it a connotation or a tendency to marginalize those who are unattached, forcing them into estrangement.Why would a couple need a special day to be told they are loved, to be showered gifts, cards, candies and other things? What about the 364 other perfectly good days of the year? Why does the world have to stop on ‘this day of love’ to show love? A day where people show "their loved ones'" the extent and deepness of their feelings for each other by purchasing lame gifts that resemble something "warm and fuzzy" like jewelleries, flowers, chocolates or pitiful stuffed toys, teddy bears etc. I do not need a card or some overpriced flowers from “the heart of my heart” to know that he got the keys that would unlock my heart! Because trust me babies, he or she might shower you with what will leave you speechless, but his or her heart might be panting for another target. Ladies, permit me to address you most especially because of my gender status. I think it is your birthright that your sweeties show you love every day of the goddamn year. Why will he not take you to that week-end at the five-star hotel you so much admire on the 20th of June? He could also take you on that shopping spree on the 14th of October! And why not lavish you with the Mark &Spencer jewellery on the 2nd of May? Has he got just the 14th of February to do something that says “I Love You?” Come on… Just that kiss you get every morning, pretty inexpensive in your mind, but invaluable in terms of love because a true show of love comes from the heart, not the wallet. And who cares? If you love someone, tell them, show them NOW. No time like the present. Waiting for some day that was labelled Valentine`s Day just conforms to some silly old tradition. How I wish it was called Lionel`s Day or Ruth’s Day or Kwame`s Day, why not Tim`s day… give it your name! And on this same day card manufacturers would sell more cards in a slow quarter of the financial year. The event has become a commercial cycle, every year, some of the best Valentine`s Day ideas cost as much as the school fees of an orphan per year, or a dying patient in the hospital who cannot afford his medications!

Fellas, let us not enjoy being brainwashed into buying a load of tat that you don't really want, to give to someone who also doesn't really want it, in some vain attempt to quell your guilt-trip and demonstrate to someone that you care about them.


LOVE IS GIVING, GIVING and GIVING. Let us bear this in mind that affecting the people who really need us is like building a house on solid ground. Bringing joy and happiness in the life of each other even in the very modest way matters so much because love has no price. So on this Valentine`s Day, I challenge you to go to www.worldvision.org and see how you can impact the lives of those kids in Haiti who go about naked and hungry in the streets, dining with flies.Those breast-feeding moms who cannot even afford milk to drink for their babies. Am I even supposed to be telling you this? You all are aware. So the love month I guess is the month of positive actions. I challenge you to make your life meaningful, by visiting those hospitals, orphanages and those communities that cannot afford for their most basic necessities as potable drinking water. While you are thinking of getting extremely intimate with your lover and maybe unleashing the wolf that is in you on that Valentine`s Day night, first think about those who cannot be what and where you are right now. Those who cannot own what you got. Think about creating a name for yourself, think about impacting people`s life for the best. It is February, the month for most of the awards around the globe, what prize are you working towards winning? What prizes are you going to win? Are you loving yourself by taking yourself to the apex of the ladder of life or are you loving yourself by following the masses thus remaining on that same spot year in and year out?Still in this amorous month of February, the legend, African Hero of all times, Nelson Mandela celebrated his freedom from prison with the loves of his life. How do you relate this to your personal life? To what extent would you show love, not to some narcissistic guy or some gold digger of a girl that will jilt you as soon as you turn away from them, but to an entire community, to an entire nation, to an entire world? Think about this, as we celebrate the freedom of the world`s mentor, do not stay back, entangled in a mental prison. Be free, and let your freedom make you soar to unbelievable dimensions and carry your loved ones along on your wings. I do not even want to talk about the Valentine`s Day that is called Chocolate Day in Ghana - a day for boosting the sales of cocoa products.I just hope that the money I use to buy chocolate which I take every morning is used properly, channelled to a worthwhile destination, and used for valuable purpose. Girls, you should take this chocolate issue very seriously, eat it every morning and tell me how it boosts not only your entire shine, but your physique too. Plus the world is looking forward to curb violence against girls and women through an organization called V-Day. It is all in the love month! Guys, find out how you can make the world a better place like paradise.Show love to the entire world and more specifically, show love EVERYDAY to that one who is capable of making your breathe stop, if you have such a person. In conclusion, permit me share with you the words of Ashton Kutcher, the American movie producer and actor who in his confession to People Magazine early this February said; “I hate Valentine`s Day. I think everyday should be a day of romance, then, on Valentine`s Day you should get to tell whoever you hate that you cannot stand them. There will be one day of hating, and 364 days of love.” I really want to wish a happy Valentine`s Day to the president of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. I wonder how he is going to spend the day - with which of the girls??? Myriads of kisses, Happy Valentine`s Day to all of you.