One thousand seven hundred and forty-seven years ago today,
a man was beaten with clubs and then beheaded under the order of Marcus
Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus.
Known by his buddies as Claude and known by his deific title (yes, he
was a god according to the Roman Senate) as Divus Claudius Gothicus, Claudius
II was an epic military leader bent on restoring greatness to the Roman empire
as it was coming apart at the seams.
And, in the proud tradition of the apocryphal “divine” lineage, Claudius
II is allegedly an ancestor to Constantine, the emperor who, a short 34 years
after the martyrdom of St. Valentine issued the Edict of Milan in which the
Roman Empire officially professed Christianity.
When you’re sniffing your roses and eating your chocolates, ponder the
paradox that you’re celebrating a clubbing and beheading of a proselytizing man
who had the audacity to challenge the deification of military emperors.
The National Retail Federation estimates that, in the U.S.,
consumers will spend $19.7 billion this year on Valentine’s Day blasting
through the previous all-time record of $18.6 billion spent in 2013. And, following the Pavlovian impulse of
mercantile behavior, our collective caring impulse will enrich candy makers,
greeting card publishers, restaurants and venues, florists, and jewelers. These, in order of gross consumer percentages,
will be the winners of what society has deemed to be “love” in modern
times. When one contemplates our
iconography of “love” one can readily see a social commentary on the state of
humanity that could benefit from a little socioeconomic historical review.
While most of the historical record of the Bishop of Terni,
Narnia and Amelia was destroyed in the flames of book-burning impulses
throughout the tumultuous demise of the Roman Empire, tradition states that St.
Valentine was under house arrest ordered by Judge Asterius. During his impassioned conversations with the
judge, the humble bishop reportedly laid his hands on the eyes of the judge’s
blind daughter and miraculously restored her sight as proof of the power of
Jesus. This miracle reportedly led to
the conversion of the 44 members of the judge’s household to Christianity and
the emancipation of Christian prisoners in the region. Emboldened by the conversion and – more importantly
– the judge’s decision to smash all of his idols deemed a pagan affront to
Christianity, the Bishop went on to Rome where he conducted Christian marriages
in violation of Roman law. His actions
were deemed treasonous by Claudius II and, after a failed attempt to convert
the emperor, he was sentenced to death and executed. Claudius II wanted people to have faith in
him and, failing that, he wanted to kill his opponents. St. Valentine wanted people to have faith in
his belief. A few decades after his
death, his prevailing view justified the killing of those who didn’t
believe. In short, St. Valentine,
Claudius II, and Constantine were co-conspirators in one of the most ruthless
genocides of all time – all pivoting around the perversion of a very simple
principle: love!
Anyone astutely watching politics in the U.S. right now can
see the theater at the end of an empire.
We’re bombarded with the subterfuge and lies of a former First Lady and Secretary
of State who, together with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, know
that they’re all co-conspirators on actions in North Africa and other parts of
the world which were corrupt and antithetical to principles of transparent democracy;
the brash xenophobia of a bloated icon of the worst of horded capital; the
pandering proselytizing populists; and all other manner of superficiality and
rather than allow this theater to indict our sense of callous neglect for the
Unity of all peoples across the world, we turn to chocolates, greeting cards
and faux tokens of “love” while we do nothing to evidence that love.
Ironic, isn’t it, that the two biggest commercial successes
of the Valentine’s Day economics are two industries that are rife with
inhumanity. The extractive industries
that provide the glitter of jewelry have, over the centuries, involved warfare,
genocide, torture, organized crime, yet we continue to return each year to them
as icons of love. The cocoa industry –
70% of which is supplied from Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana – is so filled with labor
abuses that a 2004 effort to expose the human rights violations in Cote D’Ivoire
resulted in the state-implicated kidnapping, torture and murder of a journalist
seeking to report on the conditions of workers in the cocoa farms of Western
Africa. To insure that buyers can
cheaply show their love for their sweethearts, the average cocoa farmer earns
less than $2 per day. Sixty percent of
Americans will spend 80 times that amount in this one day to show “love”.
This post is not an anti-love screed. This is not a plea to shun celebrations. It is, in the tradition of Future
Dreaming, a call for us to consider the all-in-consequence of our
chosen actions. In fact, I would like us
to consider what WOULD be a celebration befitting the namesake of this
holiday. While the Catholic Church
demoted St. Valentine in 1969 and while I’m not, nor have I ever been, a fan of
making martyrs out of those who try to argue for “belief” rather than simply
living evidence of a better way of living, I would like to consider what a day
of celebrating love would actually look like.
So what I’m doing to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day is
simple. I’m corresponding with those I
love and letting them know how much they mean to me. I’m redoubling my commitment to my work with
people like Lawrence Daveona and Theresa Arek who represent some of my closest
connections to the extractive and the cocoa production industries and, rather
than buying gifts of fleeting value, I’m allocating my time and treasure to see
them succeed in their efforts to bring humanity to industries that have
historically abused humans to the point of death. And I am, for the first time in 30 years,
choosing to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a light heart because I have now
seen that love can actually emanate not from a cognitive agreement in my head
but can be an effusive expression of my interconnectedness with ALL. Here’s to all you lovers out there! Celebrate unbounded, relentless, integrated
love!
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Well said
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