Surviving Valentines' Day

the words of that Gloria Gaynor song ring through my mind..At first i was afraid, i was petrified...i will survive..and survive i did for Valentines Day this year...

the number of flower sellers out to earn a quick buck would put money-grasping wall-street to shame..in fact, i reckon those condemned executives should come over to Singapore and get a second career selling flowers on Valentines Day..i'm immediately reminded of the case of the Hebrew Midwives in Exodus when i see these flower sellers..you know, they couldnt have children of their own so they became mid wives, they can't get partners so they sell flowers..if you can't beat em join em and if you can't join em...well, enter the catering business..

ok, i shouldnt be so mean..Valentines Day is an amazing tribute to love(of the commercialised, commodified variety) that i shouldnt feel envious of just because i can't get attached myself..that is emininently true and i will be the first to deprecate myself..its lovely to see young couples on the streets of Singapore in their couple T-shirts that spell "L-O" for the guys and "V-E" for the girls but which actually mean"I-D" and "I-O-T"..oops sorry its unevenly split..maybe "FOOL" would do better..

amid all the hype, its easy to see why even the Catholic Church is getting involved..according to a news report in the Straits Times today, the Catholic Church has stated that people have been praying to the wrong patron saint (of love) after all..its not ST Valentine but rather St Raphael who's in charge of people encountering their future spouses..ST Valentine is the quasi-divine dude who Marries love struck sweethearts who shouldnt be together...hmmm..is he going against God's Sovereign Will and getting away with it?

i'm actually a romantic at heart dun get me wrong..true romantics love tragedy and how true love is perfected in death and all that..not that farce i see on the streets of Singapore..and like all romantics i'm comforted by my Senecca and Cicero and Herodotus and all that Stoic crowd..so there, i may not have a valentine..but "Call no man happy until he is dead"..as Herodotus would put it..and "the only man who is hurt by the caprices of Fortune is the man who allows himself to be deceived by her favours first"...I Survived Valentines Day!!!!