Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It was first celebrated in the 14th Century.
Valentine’s Day is recognized as a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and romantic love.
The core essence of Valentine is the celebration of Saint Valentine of Rome who was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers, who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians. He was later executed. It metamorphosed into presenting of flowers and sending greeting cards to love ones in the 18th Century, to gifting of cash or sophisticated material things and ‘taking out’ in our days.
Today particularly in Nigeria, Young girls and women will dress in red; randy boys and irresponsible men would have secured a “val” who they will play Romeo and Juliet with. They see it as a day to eat the “forbidden fruit”; a day of free sex as some call it. Forgetting that there are free consequences attached.
Desperate guys can budget their lifetime earnings or even more if they have their way to make that girl happy at the detriment of their future. They dream big for Mr Valentine as if their future depends on him.
Few years back a fellow bought a phone of fifty two thousand naira for his ‘Val’ whereas, he uses a small Nokia phone – the kind with torchlight, just so he could please her, what a love indeed!
So many young men spend away their future trying to prove their love and responsiveness to a lady. Brother wake up! That’s stupidity and recklessness. If you eat today what you are supposed to eat tomorrow, you will die of hunger tomorrow.
Ladies on the other hand ‘dress to kill’ as they say, but I call it ‘dress to be killed’ do you know why? Most of those Slay Queens’ destinies are changed, shattered, bartered and aborted on such a day. Like Esau, many give away their virginity as exchange for a single Morsel of enjoyment, it’s a pity!
Valentine is so popular that it plays into the illusion that there is love among a people that actually do not love themselves. The day has become a sentimental and `expensive day’ of love, as one can see in our materialistic society today.
Yet, it can also be a time to soberly reflect on our love for others, and on what love actually means- than this ‘take me out’ things.
And hey, do not get this post twisted, celebrate your Valentine; but reasonably! You may also would like to celebrate your Valentine with the ordinary people who would not be able to to pay you back; either in cash or kind. Cheers!!!
– Sumakada Musa Amos
