Yes, this is a direct response to the thread called L.I.E.s? I was away when that thread came into being, but just couldn't let it sit unanswered.
Love is not evil. Not in the least bit.
The overcommercialization of it may be. The setting of material expectations connected somehow with the emotion, and tied to a particular day may be thought evil, but I think that's giving it too much credit. That's just marketing, you don't have to buy into every idea you are presented with.
Love is grand. Love is what brings us here. Love is indescribably special. It is stronger than pain, than pettiness, and stronger too than death.
Love is Not Evil.
Valentine's Day is an opportunity.
If you want to feel sad, and left out, go ahead, but realiza it is your CHOICE. If you want to "protest" by wearing all black, go ahead, no one will notice, as most people of my generation and younger wear all black a lot of the time anyway. No big deal.
Valentine's Day is an opportunity. If you are happily single-by-choice, great! Don't let the commercials get you down! Take yourself, or another person out to dinner to celebrate your love of being single!
If you are unhappily single, and the thought of the day depresses you, be proactive. If nothing else, buy some candy or flowers for someone just to see their surprised look. It could be an elderly neighbor, the bus driver, the cashier at the grocery store, just someone who may be ignored by others on this day that seems focused more and more on youth and romance. It could be for a friend you know is having a tough time with the day. Doing something is so much more fun than pouting!
No money? Make valentines by hand - people will appreciate them even if the heart is lopsided, I promise.
Rejoice! You are alive. Love exists in the world. You know the unconditional love of your pet(s), right? Some folks have never experienced that, some never will. Aren't you better off, richer for this love?
Love exists. It is grand! It is a gift we give to others, and in giving receive back! (Remember the Magic Penny song?)
Now I'm gonna "get Biblical" on you:
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From 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, RSV:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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So there!
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