Enough love to plague a saint

Enough love to plague a saint

Love makes the world go round. That's what they say.

And I always thought it was something to do with the Earth's conservation of angular momentum. But then, what do I know?

As the world celebrates Valentine's Day this weekend, love will also be making the money go round, as youngsters invest in roses, chocolates, cupcakes, teddy bears and anything else pink or red or cuddly to give their crush of the moment.

This is yet another Western tradition that has taken a firm foothold in Thai culture, gaining prominence over the years and happily perpetuated by the business sector. Hotels offer special room discounts and restaurants create special menus. Anything and everything vaguely in the shape of a heart suddenly appears on front rows of shelves in stores and markets, and is quickly snapped up by eager buyers. 

The popularity of Valentine's Day is not surprising.

Yet the person who would probably be most surprised to see the extent of this "reverence" for Valentine's Day is Saint Valentine himself.

There couldn't be a saint's day in the Roman Catholic Church calendar more vague than that of St Valentine. By all records, he seems to have existed sometime in the fifth century, and was martyred on Feb 14 for reasons that do not seem to have anything to do with love.

The link to love became more obvious only after the Middle Ages. It seems the poet Chaucer took artistic license to "make a sculpture out of water", as we would say in Thai. He arguably was the one who created the myth of St Valentine in his poem Parliament Of Foules, in which birds were allowed to choose — or not choose — their mates.

The Nuremberg Chronicle of the late 15th century refers to a St Valentine who helped young Christian couples persecuted by Emperior Claudius II. Another tells of a St Valentine who married off young men so they would not be sent to war. For these acts, each St Valentine was martyred.

If St Valentine had never existed, it seems we would have invented him one way or another, just so we could have a reason to celebrate love.

Speaking of love, last week a young assistant district registrar in Sattahip district of Chon Buri decided to make a grand gesture to his paramour. His girlfriend was driving along, minding her own business, when she was stopped by an anti-drugs squad and told to step out of her car. 

Confronted by group of tattooed males accusing her of involvement in drugs and forcing her to get out of the car must have been a nightmare of the tallest order for this young lady, a livestock officer.

I constantly tell my daughter never to get out of the car for anybody if she is driving alone, and to drive to the nearest police station if anything happens. Yet our lady decided she had better do what this tough-looking group of officers said. She denied every accusation, almost reaching the point of panic.

Then her boyfriend appears, seemingly out of nowhere, carrying a huge bouquet of red roses. It had all been a ploy to propose marriage, but apparently the young lady wasn't amused.

In the clip, she can be seen walking away, stunned, presumably still upset by the experience, as her beau presents her with the bouquet and gives her a huge hug.

I think she composes herself admirably, with nary a tear nor an expletive. She even manages a smile — or is it a grimace? As far as I know, she accepted the proposal. Had it been me, I would probably have smacked him over the head with the roses and dumped him there and then for putting me through such a frightening ordeal. But that's why she's the one getting married and I'll be on my own on Valentine's Day.

Chocolates, anyone?


Usnisa Sukhsvasti is the features editor of the Bangkok Post.

Usnisa Sukhsvasti

Feature Editor

M.R. Usnisa Sukhsvasti is Bangkok Post’s features editor, a teacher at Chulalongkorn University and a social worker.

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