Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine clearly touched many people’s lives; thus, the reason we celebrate a day in remembrance. Therefore, it is worth dedicating one day to the celebration of love worldwide. But I think the spirit of Valentine’s Day is more than a singular day.

Let me be honest, Valentine’s Day is one of my least favorite holidays. I know how it sounds on the surface, but to avoid sounding like a Scrooge of Valentine’s, allow me to explain. I love to romance my wife. I love to give her little gifts, cards, flowers, and doing things for her that I know will bring a smile to her face. Although I always do something for my wife for Valentine’s Day, I don’t need a special day to celebrate our love. I prefer to do something romantic and loving at random times throughout the year for no special reason other than she is important to me.

I believe the same principle is true with everyone I know. One of my greatest joys in life is sharing love and kindness. But I don’t want to simply do something nice for a person one day a year. I like to share the love and kindness throughout the year, at random times, simply because it can positively impact their lives.

While it’s easy to say that every day should be Valentine’s Day, we can easily wind up distracted by all the things we must do if we are not careful. Work, routines, family, and other obligations take precedence, and our attention gets deflected everywhere and we must therefore graph it in the fibers of who we are. The good thing about Valentine’s Day is that it can help remind us that we need to celebrate love and affection. It’s the perfect excuse to have fun, be playful, rekindle passion or just appreciate those around us.

Remember in elementary school when we had to bring in valentines for the entire class? It was a chance to share kindness and love with other classmates. It showed that the world could share love with each other through simple acts. Although we may not be in grade school any longer, why would we want to shy away from showing that love with others; especially someone who needs it the most.

Most of us love our community and want the best for it. It’s our home. It’s where we live, work, learn, play, and raise our families. Therefore, why not extend our love, kindness, and appreciation to our entire community here at Leisure World? How much of a difference could you make in sending your neighbor a card, taking homemade cookies to someone, or doing random acts of kindness? These small acts can build a stronger sense of pride and respect in our own community.

Why limit yourself to just one day a year to celebrate your love? When Covid-19 first hit, we saw a huge wave of community support and mutual aid across the world, with everyday people coming together to help their neighbors and neighborhoods. We need to embrace that feeling and look beyond a single day and look at what opportunities there are to improve the happiness, joy, and safety in our community.

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” When love blossoms in a community it almost always positively alters the atmosphere and means the community is stronger, healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier. To show love and kindness in our community is a powerful step. It’s a mind shift that truly changes the conversation around what’s possible and alters the energy around us.

My dream is that, in honor of Valentine’s Day, every person would do just one small thing to make a positive impact on the community and therefore make it possible for families and neighbors to feel good about where they live and who lives beside them or around them. We all know that random acts of kindness have positive ripple effects that reach far and wide. Can you imagine the amazing results if each person took part in a mass outpouring of love and positivity throughout the entire year?

Happy Valentine’s Day.