Valentine's Day Challenge

With Valentine's Day approaching, I notice that people tend to fall into one of two camps: those in a relationship who want to let everyone know they are in a relationship and those who are single and want to remind everyone that they are single.  Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's a good majority.  Now, the relationship people like people to know just how happy they are and how wonderful their life is because they are in a wonderful relationship.  They tell the single people not to worry, that one day they will find love too.  This only seems to draw the ire of the single people, who like to remind everyone how much they hate this holiday and how lousy it is to be single.  But my question is, when did this holiday become solely about being in a relationship creating these two warring factions?  Isn't this holiday supposed to be about love?  And doesn't love come in many different forms?

This inspired me to research some of the history behind Valentine's Day.  I found a very interesting article regarding the subject on History.com, which I will try to summarize concisely.  There are multiple versions surrounding the story of St. Valentine, none of which can really be confirmed, but they all surround the idea that he was a heroic, romantic figure.  Valentine's Day itself actually started as a pagan holiday called Lupercalia, which was a fertility festival.  It involved slapping women with goat hides to make them fertile, and then the women would put their name in an urn for men to draw out and be matched with.  Ancient Rome was weird.

Eventually that festival was outlawed, and Pope Gelasius, at the end of the 5th century, declared Valentine's Day to take place on February 14.  In the Middle Ages, they day was also associated with the beginning of the birds mating season which furthered the connection to romance and love.  Written greetings didn't appear until after 1400, and the first mass-produced valentines didn't appear until the 1840s in America.  But it was common for friends and lovers to exchange tokens of affection.  Friends is the word that stands out to me there.  But if you would like to read the whole article, here is the link.
http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day

So even though the holiday has evolved into a romantic occasion for people to celebrate their romantic relationships, the origins are rooted in love.  And like I mentioned earlier, love comes in many forms.  So here's my challenge to all of you.  Whether you are in a relationship or not, use this holiday to show ALL the people you love that you care.  Let friends, family, lovers, whoever know that you love them.  Let's not focus on celebrating relationships, but instead focus on celebrating love.  The world could use a little more love, so let's all do our part.

Also, check out the following video for a useless Valentines Day fact!