Valentine's Day

This was once St. Valentine's Day, but alas the feast day for this particular St. Valentine has long been relegated by the Church calendar to only local celebrations. Be that as it may, this Roman custom was especially beguiling to Englishmen on the Grand Tour. So much so, that like so much, this was replicated into their own culture.

And so what has regretfully has become largely a commercial exercise has passed another anniversary. And so, whatever true sentiments have been felt this day pass into memory. Cards, bracelets, letters of often genuine passion, packed into drawers or boxes, one day hopefully to be rediscovered. In far-off Japan, innumerable chocolate molds gather in wash basins, their owners relieved from having to make treats for all the men in their lives, whether they actually like them or not.

In warehouses and storefronts throughout the world, cheap chocolates and withering arrangements gather, to know the indignity of a bargain sticker later. Even the China flu doesn't seem to have overly affected the expression of love and may nothing ever. Simple love, having someone in your life, why really does anything else matter?