a colored spectrum

long overdue frm V-day

this is something i wrote for Valentine's Day this year. thought i might as well share it with all of you. yes, i am out of a sweetheart now, but i am sure life offers more than just love per se.

"Once again it’s the time of the year. The over-commercialized Valentine’s Day where florists jack up prices of the roses horrendously just coz there’s a short of supply, and restaurant management comes up with all sorts of V-day special concoctions of dishes and drinks. Yes, they do charge u a sky high price for it, emphasizing on ambience and fine dining experience. In my opinion, fine dining is not so fine after all if the experience of bill-payment and the squeeze on my wallet suffocates my existence for the next 2 weeks jus for the evening of mere luxurious dining experience under a candlelight-violin-playing ambience (blame it on silly American movies n the imageries they portray about romanticism) hence, what is the significance of Valentine’s Day then?

No, I am not going to preach about God’s Love and His greatness, nor am I going to write about martyrs who sacrifice themselves for the name of love (or so they thought they did). The point I am trying to make here is, what does Valentine’s Day mean to each and every one of us? Since it’s advertised as the Festival of Love…. So, what does this signifies?

Love starts from loving yourself, respecting your dignity, enriching your mind, and taking care of your body. Love, is a cumulative daily process. Never love yourself less due to some serious mistakes you have made, because if you don’t learn to love yourself and accept who you are and what you have done, no matter how wrong it was to you, then, it will be very difficult and tiring for others to love you.

Love starts from loving your parents. As Confucian once said in The Confucian Classics, one who does not practice filial piety nor loves his parents will never be able to love anyone else sincerely for long. Simply coz it was our parents who brought us into this Earth, gave us a body and a life. Thus, if one is unfilial towards his parents, they will not be respect and love others. Therefore, Valentine’s Day should never be an especially romantic day for couples only. If it is true to its cause of being a festival of the celebration of love, then this love would be all encompassing. Thus, it is a day of showing love to our parents, family and people who are close to us. That then translates into, loving and respecting our parents and family everyday, being there for them with honesty and sincerity, showering them with hope and faith. There is not much of a point being extravagantly loving just one day a year (includes Mother’s Day, Christmas etc) when we neglect our parents and family, indulge in work, play and self-interests for the other 364 days of the year.

Love, also means to forgive and forget others who have hurt, betrayed or abused us in any ways. Holding grudges doesn’t make one any happier. Throw out the unhappiness and misery. Taking the initiative to love others wholeheartedly and give more unselfishly, and then one would realize that you are receiving more love than ever. Each of us has in one way or other hurt, betrayed or abused others, by words or by deeds. Maybe we didn’t realize. Maybe we simply took that person for granted. Somehow, humans tend to take negative advantage of people who love them most unconditionally. Forgiveness comes with an awareness that we should be cautious about what we say or do, in the conscious or unconscious state of mind, so that we minimize the chances of hurting others.

Frankly, I can’t bake nor sew nor am good at handicraft work. The cheesecake attempt earlier this week turned out to be quite disastrous. The last time I sewed was in home economics class in sec 2 and I spoilt the sewing machine. Thus, I decided to put my few constructive talents to good use. And that means to write. Writing is an activity I enjoy a lot. Certainly, sometimes I do write a lot about nothing. Such oxymoron isn’t it? But, writing enables me to express myself to the fullest."

posted by Veen @ 20:41