So it’s Valentine’s Day again, and while I would like to say I go all out on Valentine’s Day, I usually do not.  Not only that, but I am also not a gift buyer for this day, and much of it specifically has to do with how commercialized every single possible holiday day has become.  There is no man alive in this country that has an excuse for forgetting this holiday, or any holiday, at this point, we have been bombarded since New Year’s that this day was coming.  I hate force buying something that isn’t really asked for in the first place, and is usually something over-manufactured for cheap pennies overseas (made in China).

So if you take away the commercialization of Valentine’s Day, where did the day come from and why do we celebrate it?  As is now standard in our post-mondern society, we have taken a day once commemorating a specific day on the Christian calendar and turned it into cheap plastic toys for lack of a better phrase.

Started in A.D. 496 by Pope Gelasius I (and then later deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI), it was originally placed on the calendar on February 14th to “celebrate” the martyrdom of Saint Valentine (or Valentinus in Latin) the Patron of Love, which was actually around 14 different martyrs, not one specific person or saint. The total number of martyred saints is not completely known, and the reasons for their deaths range as well. First written about in Nuremberg, Saint Valentine supposedly was caught marrying Christian couples who were being persecuted by under Emperor Claudius in Rome (which was a crime). He was then imprisoned, where he also gained almost 50 converts to Christianity before he was executed.

So there you have it. Nothing to do with a box of chocolates, stuffed animals from Walmart, or pajamas from TV mail order.

Some may call it cheap, but I will make a public “Happy Valentine’s Day” wish to the true love of my life, Deborah.  I hope I can live out the remainder of our days together as the husband you expect me to be, always ready to show you the love you deserve.  Even though I didn’t buy you a box of chocolates today, I still love you very much.