Feb 14: Just Another Day of Love

It’s once again the middle of February and a gust of romantic breeze brushes past every nook and cranny. Candle-lit dinners, bouquets of red roses cradled in the arms of ladies, kisses splattered on every gentleman’s cheek, great big hugs and a kiss from friend to friend, melted chocolates mustached on sweet-toothed couples, families praying together and staying together, romantic dates among lovers – love is definitely in the air!

February 14, just like any other day, is a special day. Some may think that it’s a special day for single people to go out and meet other single people. Some think of Valentine’s Day as a day to ‘mourn’ their single life. Some are reminded during Valentine’s day that they don’t have anyone beside them to honor love. But isn’t love supposed to be in the air every single day as well? A lot of people think that Valentine’s day is just for couples, for lovers, for married people. Well, I beg to disagree. It doesn’t mean that if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend, a husband or wife, that you are not able to celebrate Valentine’s day. Every single one of us have our own little ways of celebrating Valentine’s day regardless of our civil status. Lovers and couples may most benefit from Valentine’s day but it is also a special day for single and unmarried people. I’m single but am contented enough with how I spend my Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is just like Christmas Day – giving gifts and exchanging cards. It’s like birthdays as well. It’s just like any other day in the lunar or roman calendar or Chinese calendar or whatever calendar you may think of. You may think I’m bitter but I’m just stating a fact – that February 14 is just like any other day. But what’s really special about Valentine’s day is that this is the chance, the opportunity, to remind your loved ones that they are loved, that they are cared for, that they are kept your hearts 365 or 366 days a year. This is the chance to make up for all your wrongdoings and shortcomings. This is an opportunity to truly, madly, deeply tell your loved ones how you feel about them. Of course, one could do just that any other day but Feb 14 is a big day where you could kind of tell the whole world ‘officially’ of the love you share with others.

I’m not an expert when it comes to love but I could tell you much when it comes to sharing the love and caring for other people. I’m not much of a city girl but I’ve come to love the urban life during my university schooling. I admit I’m a country girl – far away from the huzzle-buzzle of the city life, the smoke-belching jeepneys, the highway traffic, the irritating hammering and grinding from nearby construction sites. I’ve come to love the city because I realized that although my hometown Sagada is far from economic progress and development than that of Baguio City, I saw that Sagada had no problems such as peddlers, beggars and stow-away children with their ragged and tattered clothes running about. My hometown had not much problems as drugs, murders, homicides, car crashes and other gruesome events that I’ve witnessed in the city. It was the tranquility of my hometown which led me to a realization that I could do more in the city than that of my hometown. For every Valentine’s day for my five long years in the city, I’ve come to spend some time not with a boyfriend (as I didn’t even have one for that matter J) but with strangers I meet on my way home or any where I go. I still remember that I’ve spent my first Valentine’s Day in the city by walking around the city with friends (also single) and dropping coins in the palms of arm-stretched beggars along overpasses and along Session Road.

I could never forget February 14, 2006 because I’ve accomplished something that was to me, a great thing. This was my first Valentine’s Day during my college life. I’m never one to just give money away since my family is having financial difficulties as any other Filipino family in the country and I’ve come to experience how hard it is to earn money on my own. But right when I looked at the state of one of the beggars along the Magsaysay overpass, a woman with ragged and greasy clothes and mouth watering upon seeing my half-eaten Dunkin’ Donut Strawberry-filled Bavarian donut, I felt something tug at my heart. I did not eat the whole day since it was our practicum in Anatomy and Physiology and I’m never one to eat when I’m nervous or else I’d keep visiting the comfort room. So my stomach was wrenching in hunger but I stopped in front of her, smiled, and handed the donut over to the poor woman. She eagerly took that half-eaten donut, hung her head and cried. That day, I’ve promised myself I’d be more gracious and giving for there are much more unfortunate people than I am. I’ve done that through dropping every spare change I could to beggars I meet along the way. From that day on, I never complained I have not enough allowance and never wasted even a rotting piece of tomato. I just had to chop off the rotting portion and make do with the good one. That’s love.

February 14, 2007 was also memorable to me. With our nursing concepts and theories easier and understandable as we go through every lesson, I’ve come to realize from one point in our lesson that it’s good for the body to also donate blood. That’s what I did when we had the opportunity to volunteer for a blood donation at the Red Cross. For the first time in my life, I’ve been punctured with a large-bore needle since I’ve never been hooked to dextroses and the like in my childhood and during my secondary schooling. I wanted to back out the moment one of the medical technologists held up a 2-inch needle approximately 2mm in diameter. I was profusely sweating by the time he came at me. But his calm and soothing voice misled my fear into something much more satisfying – the realization that I was helping someone else out there who needed a blood transfusion. Type O+ may be the most abundant blood type among people and also may be the universal donor but you may never know. Someone out there needs that 500ml of blood. That may just be 500ml of my 5.6 liters of blood but that feeling of relief, satisfaction, happiness and accomplishment never went away. That’s love.

The next Valentine’s Day, it was year 2008, my groupmates and I (K4) with our clinical instructor were in Cadtay, Kapangan for our regular duty for community work. It may be a hassle for some of my group mates since they had set appointments for their Valentine’s Day dates but I was happy to have spent that special day with the people of Cadtay, Kapangan. For that day, we’ve set up something that the community people would enjoy. We chucked in some of our allowance for the game prizes and for the preparation of our cause. We arranged for a dance-for-all at night, invited some of the neighboring barangays, and had fun that day. At least for a day during that week, the people had rested their weary bodies and limp limbs from going to the farm or fields which you’d not believe how far it is from their houses. My gosh! Just remembering those times we’ve visited the residents in their homes and the fields make my legs cramp, shake and ache so much. But at least just for that day, we’ve been there to help them relax and experience something they enjoy with us, strangers but to them a new-found family. That’s love.

February 14, 2009 was a really special day for me. My friends and I, single or otherwise had fun during our group date. That was the very first date I’ve had again in about 5 years – with friends whom I’ve come to love so much. We went bar hopping, drinking, singing, and even dancing. I’ve not had so much fun like this for a long time since we graduated from high school. A mother of one of my friends even gave each of us Goldilocks polvoron packages. Yum, yum, yum! My friend and her mom is really, really thoughtful and sweet. Taking time to spend a special day with the people you care about, that’s love.

February 14 was one of the special days during the year 2010 which I always could recall. That was the day I first worked as a freelance writer online. All thanks to my boss, Seif, I had a part-time job submitting news articles in his own website. I got paid 50 dollars that same week. I’ve worked, got paid and now I had something to spend for the upcoming Panagbenga street dancing and float parade with my friends. That was one Valentine’s Day where I accomplished something not for anyone else but for myself. That’s love.

It was then February 14, 2011. I’ve started working on my high school alma mater’s weblog page as a gesture of gratitude for all the things I’ve learned from the teachers and students, and for taking great good care of the students’ priorities and education. Sagada National High School had been to me a home I’d always treasure and love. My experience during my four years of stay in this school inspired me to become even more successful in college. All the hardships the school had gone through while I was in its midst, all the challenges we’ve had as students, all the laughter and tears – all these things inspired me much and made me into who I am today. I’ve created the website as a tribute and thank you to the school for all its accomplishments and developments. That’s love.

It’s now the year of our Lord 2012 and again February 14. It’s time to share some love once again so here I am sharing all of you my love and greetings through this manuscript. I’ve shared my experiences and all the things I’ve thought was trivial but then to the persons I’ve helped and been with those past Valentine’s Days accordingly had been great no matter how trivial they had been. I’ve never even thought much about all those small things I did until a stranger approached me as I was giving my left-over KFC chicken drumstick to one of the street children who was tossing and holding her stomach in pain. He gave me a pat on the back and told me that what I did to the child was award-winning if ever he’d had the chance to present me with a plaque. He further told me that there was one less hungry child in the world. That phrase kept playing like a broken record in my mind – one less hungry child in the world. I thought to myself that what I’ve done was nothing at all. I couldn’t even help the others. I hadn’t realized much what Mr. Stranger meant until I got home, sat down, and sighed as the phrase kept playing in my mind. That was when it hit me. I did a great thing. With that one piece of chicken from KFC Session, I’ve fed one of the billions of hungry and homeless children in the world. I cried that night. That’s love.

And with me sharing all of you a piece of my life where all the people of the Philippines are protagonists, that’s how I show my love to you all. I hope that with this, you’d also realize that no matter how trivial, no matter how small, no matter how unimportant things are to you, to some people those things you deem unimportant and trivial are great big things to have and share. So, man up! Share some love this Valentine’s Day. Send someone a post card or a greeting card or anything you’d think of to show some love. Remember that it’s always the thought that counts, and not the amount or value of the things you give.

But wait, there’s more… The biggest realization I had as I was writing this manuscript was that for all those years I’ve spent on every Valentine’s Day, I never had someone I’m supposed to call my ‘The One’ to spend it with. Haaaaaayyyzzzzzzzz! Might as well spend it next Valentine’s Day watching movies of Jet Li. He might be the one. :D Hehehe….