VALENTINE HAS COME AND GONE

Yesterday was quite eventful, wasn’t it? Valentine’s Day is about love and it’s so real. It’s hard to ignore love, you know. That’s how we are wired. We are created not of clay but of love. And that’s why a day like this really leaves no one indifferent. For some of us, it was quite memorable sharing quality time with that special one. For some others it was rather nostalgic. With all the red colour everywhere, they could not but recall to mind those good days when valentine was valentine. Some just had fun observing others do their thing. And to some others, like my old friend Bassey, it was a bitter cup of disappointment. Mine was kind of an anticlimax. God has his way of reminding us that every love here below is but a shadow of True Love. Anyway, valentine has come and gone and we are not even sure of marking the next one since we will all be before polling booths voting for the next president of Nigeria.

You sure know the story of St Valentine, the guy behind this tradition. He is as old as Santa Claus, I guess albeit more real. It was during the reign of the great Roman Emperor Claudius II, in a time when war was the primary means of conquest. The Emperor needed a strong army to pursue his course but men were not readily joining the military. He thought they were being ‘distracted’ from the gallant adventure of war by their wives and so decided to forbid marriage in the Empire. He reasoned that if men couldn’t get married, they will be more disposed and available to fight wars. But Valentinus, a middle-aged Priest, had a different opinion. He thought and taught that marriage was a higher good than war and loving was nobler than fighting. So he went about secretly and illegally wedding couples. It wasn’t long that Claudius discovered this and Valentine was caught and imprisoned. Few hours before his execution, he sent a short note to all the couples he had wedded: “Let your love for each other be genuine and remember your Valentine”. He died on 14th February 270.

What a strong testimony of life! He believed in love and died for love’s sake. In his honour, we have a day we can rightly call, World lovers’ day. But love is not a matter of a day. Love is an attitude. Love is life. So let love flow, show love. It is better than showing off. Simply let love flow... That’s all.