Valentine's Day in a Different Light

Eros. The Greek god of love, which we now celebrate as Cupid. Eros is also the Greek word for love. This is the love most people associate with the word, that sense of romance, and butterflies, and other things that are normally associated with being “in love.”

The reason I don’t like the “classical” idea of a romantic Valentine’s Day is the over-celebration of Eros, that love of being “in love”, which marginalizes those who don’t currently have that. Not that having that is a bad thing, necessarily, but, the excess of its celebration is a bad thing. This excess is a bad thing because it makes everyone else uncomfortable. It makes it awkward, and makes these people who are probably living perfectly healthy lives without a special someone in their life right now feel outcast, and lonely. This is not what we should be celebrating. We should  be celebrating Agape.

Agape is the other Greek notion of love. This love, however, is unconditional, more focused on the other person/people, and less on how other people make us feel. I like the idea of Agape more because it takes the want out, and replaces it with a need. In case you don’t know, in Catholic/Christian teachings, Agape is the word for God’s love for us, and for humanity. But we people should be more agapic in our love for others, and so more for others because they mean so much to us, and because we feel the want, need, and responsibility to do so.

Valentine’s Day should not be celebrated as a Celebration of Eros (at least, not completely), but a celebration of Agape. We should focus less on how we don’t have a special girl/guy in our life, and more on how we are surrounded by people that love and care about us, and whom we love and care about. Well, that’s all I can really say. I hope everyone had a good day. Thank you for reading. Okay, cool. Umm, peace!…

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