A Valentine's Day lesson
I wasn't going to blog for a while... but this is something that I feel like I should share, so bare with me.
While walking to work, I came across a man who was pushing his home: a shopping cart with two black garbage bags full of belongings and a black clothing bag. This man had a large, puffy blue winter coat on with the hood up and a green scarf covering his face... I wasn't even able to see his eyes, as he was hunched over what was literally his mobile home.
The only thing I could think about was Valentine's Day... and how today isn't special at all to this man. Who knows if he even knows it's Saturday? And this man is literally faceless... even to a concerned passerby. There is no one who will be missing him or thinking about him on Valentine's Day... and he has no one to worry about or fuss over except, presumably, himself.
This man is a hardcore juxtaposition of what awaited me when I got back to my apartment. Today, in the mail, I received: A CD from a friend who thought I would like it (and who thinks CDs from friends are the best kind of music); a Valentine from a dear friend who even included a scratch and sniff sticker (which I think I got high off of... it's supposed to smell like crack, right?); AND a box of cookies from my parents... who thought I could use a little homemade love this Valentine's Day.
Allow me a slight side-track before I wrap this up: I've always liked Valentine's Day. It reminds me of elementary school... when you used to buy everyone in the class a Valentine... and then you'd get like twenty valentine's in return. It was never about love back then... love seems to be a recent phenomenon in my life. So it wasn't about love... it was about making people happy and being made happy in return. I mean... all it took was filling names in on the Valentine's card, and maybe including candy if you felt particularly generous that year... and you got all sorts of Valentine's in return. Recently, it's been about making one particular woman happy... surprising her (The creation of Outer Core was because of this very holiday). And, all we men ask in return is for the same. One day a year to be surprising and creative and REALLY work on showing this person how important they are... I'm sorry, I really like Valentine's Day.
This year... there's no one for me to fuss over... no one for me to surprise. I've been trying to live vicariously through a few couples that I know... but it seems like no one's going all out this year. Too bad... that kind of crap would really make me feel good. So today had all the makings of a day that could possibly really suck. But then I saw a faceless man and got some long distance love... and the day doesn't seem so bad. So remember, all you Valentine's haters (I'm talking to Ken among others)... at least there are people who know you... people who care.
I might be lonely this Valentine's Day... but I know I'm not alone. Take care... because I love you. Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
PS Sweetest Day still sucks ass.