Will You Be My "Val".

The world is celebrating Valentine today. Many programs and shows have been put in place to celebrate valentine. Fortunately, this year's celebration falls on a Saturday and a weekend. It will be a time for all sorts of things. The media, social media, people, colleagues, lovers, couples, students, youths, teenagers will be celebrating it. Fortunately, this is a good time for married people to strengthen their marriage and vows.
However, the celebration has become a time of celebrating immorality. Many people will loose their virginity because of valentine. They will do every thing to please their lovers and some guys will be scheming ways of breaking up with their girl friend(s) this period because they are either broke or they don't want to spend money on their girl friend(s). Many ladies will be looking for the best bidder and spender this period. Is this what valentine is?

Others will be looking for ways to make serious money so that they can please their lovers. Some married people will end up cheating on their spouse and committing adultery because of valentine. We all have forgotten that love should be an every day affair. Buying gifts for friends, lovers  and spouses and even taking them out should be a normal thing. The essence of the gifts is the thought. It is not about the size and value of the gifts that matter but the thoughts behind getting you the gifts. We have all gotten it wrong in our generation. If you ask what valentine is all about, many don't know but they want to celebrate it or break up with their lover if he can't buy them gifts or take them out. Valentine is not about flowers, candy, chocolate, dinner, ice cream, etc.  the celebration of Valentine's Day goes on, in varied ways. Many will break the bank buying jewelry and flowers for their beloveds. Others will  celebrate it by dinning, buying chocolates and gifts.  Eateries will be full of people and places like the cinemas, hotels, beach, clubs will be smiling to the bank. It has been commercialised and the devil has taken over the celebration.
We all need to know the history of valentine and apply it to our lives and this present world. St. Valentine was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros(passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.

Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are valentines. According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine's Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year's sales are expected to total $18.6 billion.

But that commercialization has spoiled the day for many. Helen Fisher, a sociologist at Rutgers University, says we have only ourselves to blame. "This isn't a command performance," she says. "If people didn't want to buy Hallmark cards, they would not be bought, and Hallmark would go out of business."And so the celebration of Valentine's Day goes on, in varied ways. Many will break the bank buying jewelry and flowers for their beloveds. Others will celebrate in a SAD (that's Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted chocolates. A few may even be spending this day the same way the early Romans did. But let's not go there.
The From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain. The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile. The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right. The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day. Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love." Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day. Galatin meant "lover of women." That was likely confused with St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound alike. As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe.

Valentine has been destroyed because people don't know the history of it. Many people have been asked this question, " will you be my Val"? The answer to that question can be found in the history of valentine. What St. valentine did years ago is to totally different from what this generation is doing today. He fought for what he believed( that is Christianity) but today we are we are valentining and fighting for  our lustful desires.
There is nothing wrong in couples, families, engaged people celebrating valentine. But it is wrong to celebrate it with immorality and sin. Don't loose your pride, innocence, dignity, future, your destiny because of one person. You have a long way to go and love is not meant to be celebrated in one particular day but every day. You are a umique being. Valentine started with a christian priest who fought for what he believed but today we celebrate sin and call it "valentine". The devil is deceiving us with it daily and many lives are being destroyed because of valentine. For you to be some one's "val", you need to fight for what you believe about love.

Your beliefs about love should not be from what you saw on television, in the cinemas and the happenings around you but it should be from the source of love (God) and the original book of love( The bible). The bible says you should not fornicate but valentine gives you opportunity to want to fornicate. Also, the bible says no sex before marriage and that you should not have extramarital affairs but "valentine" gives you reasons to want to commit adultery. Let God and his book (the bible) define valentine for you. Before you accept to be some one else's "val", you need to ask God first before you give a "yes" because that decision can make or mar you and your future.  Don't be moved by the gifts, chocolates, ice cream, cards, and romantic messages because it could be a big deception. You can become some one's val and not commit immorality and feel bad at the end of the day. Wilson Ileogben