Obaba Museum

A season of gifts and expression of love; exactly what humans need to remind them that there is still someone that cares about them. I would like to get something right, is February 14th only for lovers or to show love to people who lack a feeling of love around them?

Come to think of it, in secondary schools, well at least my secondary school, we were usually made to pick random papers to get a Val (the boys would pick from a ball filled with the girls’ name and vice-versa). What we understood then was that you had to give gifts to those you knew nothing about to make them feel special. Now outside my school walls its entirely different, so different if I must say, it is no longer a gift to make a stranger happy but a must do gift for your lover.

Don’t get me wrong it is a nice thing but don’t you think it would have been nicer to make it a time for gifting the stranger to make the person feel loved. Let’s go back in time a little, to settle our doubt and at least find out the true meaning of “VALENTINE”.

I know that it has something to do with one of the many St. Valentine’s we have but the one that I am considering is the one that has February 14th as his feast day in the catholic church. So I made some research to confirm my doubts and of course put everyone in the light. There are a lot of stories surrounding this saint but this is the one that people hold on to till date. The day takes its name from a Roman Bishop, who was martyred {someone that died for the cause of Christ} about 270CE by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus.

So the story is that marriage was against the law in Italy under Claudius who was against it, but valentine on the other hand believed in marriage and love, so he married couples who were in love in secret. The emperor believed that marriage made his soldiers weak, moreover, he also felt his soldiers were small in number and wanted to recruit more but he found out that St. Valentine had been wedding couples. He became very furious, and he jailed St. valentine.

While in jail, Valentine became friends with his jailer, a judge, apparently the judge was interested in his faith and also learnt from him, he and his household were converted, he brought his blind daughter and asked him to teach her and read to her. The Emperor too became close to  him and told him to renounce his faith, instead of doing so he asked the Emperor to convert and told him he would not change his faith. Again the Emperor became very angry and condemned him to death, before he died he wrote a letter to his friend the jailers daughter and signed it “FROM YOUR VALENTINE” as it got to her he prayed to God that she be able to read it and not to be read to, guess what? The miracle happened, and so began the sharing of letters, heart shaped chocolate, flowers and teddy bears.

I feel like I just wrote the story of how I was born and cleaned, but that’s by the way, so this story clarifies everything, but why is it that from this Saint people only pick out the aspect of letters and love? what about the sacrifice of himself for the sake of the gospel? Not that I condemn the fact that love is in the air, as people say, but I just feel from every story there should be a lesson learnt not just from one side but the two, at least that is why the story is told in full and not in bits and pieces.

I also feel that the season should not be characterized by much pressure, as you all know people, most especially girls, await this day like the judgement day or their second birthday. They expect a lot, and when disappointed some break a relationship of two to three years. Now if we were to follow the origin, then you should expect nothing more than the letter “from your valentine”.

As time went on it changed from just letters to flowers and letters, then from then it went to chocolates and then to stuffed animals and other things, so I ask after this what next? What other gifts or actions would be added to this day? Anyway, the day is to show love and care for each other that’s why the day is there, all I ask is that the day should not be used as an excuse for your actions. This year I think there should be a change, or what do you think?