V-day in the Land of Sand and Sun...

This was written on Valentine's day when I was still in Jeddah. I didn't want to send quotes to my friends, so I wrote this journal instead. 




Dear Journal,


Valentines day in Jeddah? No way!

In the Philippines, February 14 marks the day when restaurants, flower and gift shops, and hotels have an increase in their profit because Valentine's day is something almost everybody loves to celebrate. It is either you are in a relationship or you would like to be in one, you try to make that day memorable. In movies, it is done with exaggeration of course, where surprises are to be expected all the time.

On the other hand, being in the middle east on this day is quite a different story. Why? Primarily because there is no story to tell at all. People here don't celebrate occasions such as this just like the fact that they do not celebrate halloween and Thanksgiving. Forgive me, but the holidays that they have here? They are boring!

There are always 2 opposing groups when it comes to Valentine's Day. Let me tell you about them.

First, for the group of into-love, they consider this day as their favorite day of the year. This is the day when they can be so cheesy but still come out as sweet. They spend their time creating new ways to express how they feel. The artist and the idealist side of them would usually merge in order to create the perfect spectacle for the one they love. If only they could engrave names on their hearts, they would. Love for them is on top of their Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, and nothing else matters.

The second group is more of the love-hater. They cannot appreciate love because they don't have it at the moment or they have been hurt by it in the past. Either way, they have not felt the bliss that is brought by love. They have been blinded by angst and it has clouded their ability to feel infatuation for others. It takes time for them to accept the reality that they need love in one way or another. To cope with the absence of love, that's the time they result to hate.

Many things have been written and said about love. Most of them are already cliche, for they have been uttered repeatedly in various languages. But to say that Valentine's is just for couples is something that is far from the truth. I believe that this day is actually not just about Cupid's arrows flying all over the place, but rather it is a celebration of love in general; may it be the love for your family, for your friends, or for your neighbors. Let us not confine this day in a box and look at it in a narrow perspective. Isn't it more fun if we embrace our friends right now and ask them to have dinner because it's valentine's? I might as well do that later. 

Though I am in Jeddah right now, a place with no heart decorations in malls and in restaurants, I am still with joy to greet everybody a blessed heart's day. We may be far from the glamorous v-day parties, but let us not forget that love has no limitations. 


Remember, cupid's arrow could strike anytime c",)