What the world needs now
is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now
is love, sweet love,
No not just for some
but for everyone.
— Jackie DeShannon
On Feb. 14 loved ones, in the name of St. Valentine, will exchange cards, flowers, candy and other gifts. Yes, Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark holiday, yet its romance and sentiment continues to hold meaning for many in love.
One legend portrays Valentine as a priest who served during the third century in Rome. At the time, Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than married ones, so he outlawed marriage for young men, his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine realized the injustice of this decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform secret marriages. The emperor discovered the ceremonies and ordered the priest to be executed. Valentine went down in history as a martyr.
There are a lot of themes here to ponder. How about Valentine as the first antiwar counter-recruiter, marrying soldiers to deny the emperor his army?
Or Valentine as crusader for love, conducting a ceremony for lovers to declare themselves as partners, defying the emperor’s unjust orders to keep loved ones apart?
Given the Bush administration’s endless war on terror, campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage and partnerships, and attack on human rights and dignity, Valentine’s Day could be a day of love — and resistance.
Revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara once wrote, “Let me say, with the risk of appearing ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by strong feelings of love. It is impossible to think of an authentic revolutionary without this quality.”
Let’s hope that the passion in these words continue to shine some light and lift our spirits, in a time of darkness, in order to forge ahead fighting the good fight, and reminding us to remember why it is that we do what we do.
Comments