Valentine’s Day is a designated day to celebrate love, where two people choose to express their affection for each other. Through out the history, words have taken on new and expanded meanings, so is Valentine's Day.

Valentine Day is a universal expression of affection between any two individuals. Between husband and wife, between two people in love, be it mother and son, father daughter, brother sister, friends, uncles, aunties, Grand Pa and Grand Ma.

This expression of affection can range between any family members and any friends. Love does not have any bounds. The Sadhus and Sufis also can say happy Valentine to God with a clear meaning that I love you.

Please feel free to say happy valentine to your sister, mother, brother, daughter, dad, uncle or a friend. It is a much bigger word now than it started out to be. Take them out for dinner send them a flower to let them know that you care.

Every time we have a cultural festival which may have been a religious festival once, a few of our brothers and sisters will start applying morality to it.

While we Americans express it by presenting Red Roses to our loved ones, the Filipinos will break another record; the number of people kissing at the same time, Brazil will have another major festival on her beaches celebrating love.

On the other side of the world, the news papers in India will carry articles of how individuals were harassed, stores were vandalized, valentine cards were trashed, or people eating dinner in a restaurant were mauled, the intolerants will vandalise. Who authorizes these goons to go and harass the people for expressing their affection for each other? Sadly these frustrated, usually unemployed youth are paid by a few dirty politicians, and fortunately they are no more than 1/10th of 1% of each group. I do hope we can change this by offering free Valentines day lunches to all the needy and frustrated youth, to show them that we care about them and they don't need to earn their Rupee by vandalizing.

Globalizing is happening - from a narrow romantic meaning, the Valentine's Day becoming an all inclusive day. It will become a universal affection day within a decade.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Mike Ghouse

Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer, speaker, optimist and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Co-existence, Peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His work is reflected at three websites and 22 Blogs listed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

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