Celebrating love

After all, Valentines day is to simply celebrate the spirit of love.

The voice of my friend, a charming single lady, who lives in Bangalore away from her family in Chennai, blared excitedly on my cell phone.

  “What are your Valentine’s Day plans?  Care to join me for a dash to Chennai to celebrate it with our families?” she asked in a say-yes-now-or-regret-it-later fashion.  It was then that I sat up to contemplate on this wonderful four letter word that makes the world go round. And I realised that contrary to popular belief, Valentine’s Day need not be restricted to couples and wannabe couples.  After all, it is a day that simply celebrates the spirit of love.

Whether it is parental love, sibling love, love for friends, love for mentors or others, they are all worthy to be honoured on Valentine’s Day. Universally, parents toil for their children sacrificing their youth and all other worldly passions for the love of their off-springs.  The great philosopher Socrates once said that people love what they create. In so loving their creations, the most prized period of their lives is spent on toil and sweat to care for the children they have created.  Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to revere this form of supreme love.

Sibling love is yet another kind of love that is admirable.  After the tragic death of Nirbhaya in New Delhi last month, among her chivalrous qualities that were spoken of, the deep love she cherished for her two younger brothers was cited to bring out her good nature.  Even while she was battling for her life in the hospital, the newspapers featured that she was eager to know about the progress her siblings were making in their studies. The benevolent love of a sibling ought to be commended and Valentine’s Day is a fitting date.

Real love takes many other forms that is selfless. The late Mother Teresa is popularly described as an epitome of love. The care she provided for the lepers, the sick and the poor in her home was a testimony of her life of love. Still many others were martyred for their love of all humanity. Be it Abraham Lincoln or Mahatma Gandhi, they lived and died loving their fellow human beings. The world would indeed be a much poorer place without this wonderful human emotion called “love”.

While several couples all over the world would be planning a romantic day for Valentine’s Day, others could join in the celebrations too.  There is always a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend and a well-wisher whose love brings joy and is worthy of being saluted.  For, when it comes to love, it is an unusual game.  Played in its true spirit the game has no losers, only winners!