Valentine’s Day –What does It Signify To You?
Everybody knows that Valentine’s Day falls on February 14 every year. What may not be known to many of old school thought is that now we have a celebration lasting almost for a week. The celebrations begin on February 7th with a name for every day, pre-valentine’s day, like Rose Day, Hug Day and so on.
Valentine’s Day is the day when partners celebrate and express their love for each other. Some people exchange presents with their partners, while some express it through their demonstration of their love. As a child, our first Valentine’s Day is always celebrated with our parents and siblings so thus this day is not only restricted to couples but family, friends or when we say ‘Luv thy neighbors’, this beautiful expression can be extended even to our community, the outside world or in expression of worldwide peace.
While celebrations are important, we should not forget one thing. “Every day is a Valentine’s day” for partners whose love is genuine. Whether people are demonstrative or shy, what is most important is that they earnestly care for each other. If we are not able to provide true love, we should not get into the trap of ‘relationship of convenience’.
True love is boundless and though not dependent on Valentine’s Day has every reason to celebrate this beautiful emotion every day. We should certainly not associate the Valentine’s Day celebration only with flowers, expensive gifts, cards or chocolates. Love may be expressed in various ways sometimes even through a simple expression as “I Love You”. It can only be felt in the way we treat each other, the way we trust each other, respect each other and the way we care for each other. These are precious feelings that comes spontaneously and need no prompting in the form of any outward expression.
In the world of Shakespeare ‘Love’ can be Platonic too, which in today’s world people may fail to understand.
Life is full of wonderful surprises ! Loving someone and being loved is a wonderful feeling and one of the core humanistic need. If the love of your life inspires you to grow and evolve in life,its magical.
Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, nuclear disarmament advocate and president of the Soka Gakkai writes, “Love should be a force that helps you expand your life and bring forth your innate potential with fresh and dynamic vitality”.
On this Valentine’s Day, let each one of us promise to ourselves not to loose sight of the fundamental goal of truly developing a meaningful lives for ourselves.
Quote taken from the book “Discussions on Youth”, Vol.1,President Daisaku Ikeda,
Personal views of Priti Sharma, Founder & Core Consultant, iTrain Plus