VALENTINE'S DAY -- IT’S THE AMERICAN WAY!

By Edwin Cooney

In case you’ve forgotten, this Thursday is Valentine’s Day.  Yah, I know that millions of people -- especially unhappy and unconnected macho types -- see Valentine’s Day as a “namby-pamby" lovesick day, or pretty close to being the silliest day of the year! 

Not me, I like Valentine’s Day.  To me, it’s inclusive without being intrusive.  It’s about wishes and can be about some pretty special “dishes” -- if you know what I mean!  I insist that Valentine’s Day is one of the most “all American” days on the calendar, even more so than Patriot’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, or Veteran’s Day.  Okay, I’ll explain.

First, and perhaps foremost in practical minds, Valentine’s Day is a good business day.  Keep in mind President Calvin Coolidge’s observation that “the business of America is business!”  Although Valentine's Day had its origins in Pagan Rome, it forever took on an American flavor about 163 years ago when young Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts advertised her cards in the Daily Spy, a New England newspaper.  She had gotten the idea a couple of years earlier when she had received a Valentine card from a friend in Britain.  Believing that she could more effectively and attractively reproduce the card she’d received, she made a sample of a Valentine for the catalogue distributed to other outlet stores by her father’s bookstore.  She hoped for 200 orders of the card by other stores, but got over 5000. When Esther Howland died in 1904 at age 76, she was a very wealthy lady although, ironically, since Valentine’s Day does primarily celebrate romance, Miss Howland died a maiden.  Inevitably, there came candy and flowers and Valentine’s Day was off and running in America.

Next, let’s turn to what Valentine’s Day markets.  Valentine’s Day promotes "love," of course, with an emphasis on romantic love.  Still, the expression of romantic love has no monopoly on Valentine’s Day.  I’ve received expressions of love on Valentine’s Day lots of times, but generally from dear friends, most of whom are married.  I have received a Valentine gift or two from a lover, but only once or twice throughout sixty plus years of Valentine's Days.  In fact, the best Valentine I recall receiving was on Thursday, February 14^th, 1957.  The card was in the shape of a dump truck and written on the side of it was, “Here’s a load of Love for you.”  There was nothing at all romantic about that card as it was sent to me by the only brother I ever had.  His name was Danny Baker and even though he was a foster brother, I love him still across the veil of years.

What does romantic love often result in?  That’s right: babies.  Of course, babies preceded Valentine’s Day, but as more was generally considered "better" in America, institutional romance made America better yet!

As for flowers, through photosynthesis, flowers produce oxygen, which comedian
Shelley Berman once observed, “…we’re all waiting around for like vultures!”   Candy creates markets for farmers who grow cocoa beans, sugarcane, nuts, raisins, and so on. Hence, the benefactors of Valentine’s Day grow ever larger.

No, I’m not going to write about what candy too often produces. That wouldn’t be either right or fair.  After all, this commentary has nothing whatsoever to do with calories or exercise -- nor should it.

As for Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July, young people had to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield in order to make them as worthwhile as they are.  All one has to do in order to make Valentine’s Day worthwhile is to enjoy good old American indulgence.  Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day may be equal to Valentine's Day, but they hardly surpass it in that special combination of revenue and emotional intensity that’s so typically American.

The emotions expressed on St. Valentine’s Day can be unpredictable. On Thursday, February 14th, 1929, gangster Al Capone expressed his feelings toward seven members and associates of the Bugs Moran Irish gang who patrolled the north side of Chicago when he allegedly had them gunned down in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The occasion came to be known as "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre." Scarfaced Al’s "leaden valentines" lifted the earthly cares from the shoulders of Peter and Frank Gusenberg, Albert Kachellek, Reinhardt Schwimmer, Adam Heyer, Albert Weinschenk, and John May.  St.Valentine’s Day gunplay was just as American as the valentines exchanged by lovers on that very day.

You and I, of course, prefer to think of Valentines Day our own way -- the romantic way!

Ah! Having things our own way as we celebrate Valentine’s Day couldn't be anything other than the American way!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY