By: Jerry Burke
Love.
Four little letters. One small word. Humans have been on the planet for, like, 3 million years, life forms in general way longer. Unless you believe in fundamental creationism, in which case I am truly sorry.
Either way, we've been here for a long time, and still, the mystery of love remain just that. A mystery. It ebbs and flows, strips us bare and yet inspires like no other concept.
Some people kill for love. Others cut off their ears and send them to you. Stay away from both of those types.
Love has been the inspiration for the highest art and the warmest feelings of belonging we can experience. It's the reason we bother waking up in the morning and the one thing that can defy all we have been led to believe.
Oh, it can be a real pain in the butt, too. Love makes you do crazy things. Eloping, getting tattoos, naming kids after sport stars. It also isn't always quite as reliable as we'd like to believe it is. Love fails us sometimes, and sometimes we fail love. With as lofty a goal as it promises, we frail humans aren't always quite up to the task.
Now, I hate Valentine's Day. I have always been of the belief that it is a crass exploitation of a sacred emotion, and don't get me started on the debate over where diamonds come from. But every year I tolerate it, whether I'm dating (nice dinner, movie and wine) or not (McDonald's, adult movie and Jack Daniel's).
This year, I'm dating. A lovely woman whose only flaw, so far as I can tell, is her desire to be with a curmudgeon like me. So I'm going to end up crawling into my own little world, ignore the fighting and the shooting and the screaming and the backed-up toilet for a few hours and indulge in merry-making.
Sometimes, though, Cupid's arrow manages to miss a few marks. In fact, Cupid is a rather lousy shot, if you ask me. I knew justice was blind, but love, too?
Now is the time when I would usually say something like, "But don't forget those who are alone," or, "Remember people who are in terrible relationships," or, "How much of a pinhead to you have to be not to realize Bush's Social Security plan rivals only the Jets' clock management in terms of sheer incompetence?"
Not this year. Sure, remember the lonely. Help those trapped in loveless situations. Research and discover that Medicare, not Social Security, is in crisis. Do what you like. But please have some fun, for goodness' sake.
I have always believed that love is far too big a celebration to be confined to one day. I am right. So very right. But since everyone else is doing it, spend some time with the people you love. Hold them. Laugh with them. Go bowling with them. They'll love it.
What I want everyone to do this Valentine's Day is to be different. Try some food you've never tried or see a movie that neither of you, in a billion years, would have any desire to see. Find something out about the people you love that you never knew before.
Go nuts. Surprise yourself. You never know what you might find.
