Tip of the day: LET’S MAKE LOVE! Yes, you got it right. My recommendation for you -and I- is to make love! Hold on, do not get scandalized just yet. Please bear with me.
For over a week, I knew what I would be sharing with you in my next GMN mail. It was all about learning about oneself, and I was happy. I had the idea, the message, and the video to illustrate it. I was looking forward to the weekend when I usually write these messages, and then life came bouncing dressed like a Valentine. In a split second, my plans started to crumble; by the end of the day, I had no idea, no message, and no video!
It only took a shy smile, a heart-shaped cake, and a tiny hug to derail my plans and jumpstart questioning myself.
Sunday 14 was Valentine’s day, the day of love and friendship. I’ve never been too keen on any ‘day’ celebrations. They’ve always seemed too commercial, artificial, and -at times- corny. However, there was nothing of the sort with my Sunday’s Valentine. She was authentic, pure, and joyous, as only children can be. She -and her parents- were transforming the day into an opportunity to continue showing love and making all the recipients of those small cakes feel special. As the hours passed, I started pondering the meaning of the day, about love and friendship in times of COVID, and the initially planned message no longer made any sense.
What should I make out of a St. Valentine’s day, after a year of significant disruptions to the very fabric of our personal and social interactions?
Saint Valentine’s day in 2020 was not much different from the previous ones. Couples, friends, and families enjoyed their time together and made vows for an ever-improved relationship. But only a year later, the world is different, and in 2021 we all struggle even to go out, let alone get together. Fear threatens to pull us apart, and those “crazy little things” we usually did for love look like things of the past… until you think about it and realize that they are not!
They are as alive as we decide to make them. Those little big things startle you due to the ingenuity, the complicity, and the generosity of everyone involved in making them happen. From organizing a dress-in-red evening to share with friends to blushing with a surprise arriving at your bedroom in defiance of every existing boundary, these are the details that we should cherish and fight to keep alive. If there is a year in which we have to make love, it is this one. Yes, MAKE LOVE. I am not talking about sex. That’s a different thing -a good thing, of course- but that’s not what I am talking about here. I am inviting you to make love a priority, to make love your daily reality. To make love the inspiration behind your efforts to do better and be better. It has never been easy, and perhaps now it might be even harder, but it is up to you and me to make it happen.
The original Valentine was a priest who rebelled against the ban on young people’s marriages imposed by Emperor Claudius II. He believed that young men would better serve the Roman army without sentimental attachments and family concerns. But Valentine kept going, secretly officiating weddings of young couples in love, until the emperor found out and ordered his death on 14 February 270.
Let us rebel against fear and selfishness. It is true that even if we take every precaution, we may get infected with COVID, but we can, and we should manage the risks, to live the best life we can, taking care of each other. We have made it so far. We will overcome. Fortunately, there is a vaccine coming that will protect all of us from COVID, but until we get it -and even after- let’s inoculate ourselves with a double dose of love. In most cases, that is all we need:
All you need is love:
Dr. Gary Chapman:
Have a great week, and keep singing!