WHAT ARE YOU GIVING THEM FOR VALENTINE’S DAY?

That is the question that has been on everyone’s lips these past few days. And it will stay there, in its variant form, from 15 February onward: "What did you give them for Valentine’s Day?". Everyone has an answer. Usually we think chocolate, gifts; we think romantic dinner; we think an erotic evening out of the ordinary. Others, better off, will think of a trip, a night in a hotel outside the city, and so on. All the same, it would be just as good to think of something else, to do something a little special.

1 Why not hand them a handwritten letter saying what you truly feel? You have no idea how many people have been in a loving relationship for years without even knowing each other’s handwriting. Try the test with your partner: call three friends, have everyone write the same sentence on a scrap of paper, and ask your partner to pick out which one is your handwriting. I wager that a good many will fail.

2Why not, in that letter, spell out all the gratitude you feel for her / for him? Along the same lines, recall, if you can, a particular event, a day, a month, a precise date, even an hour for the truly sharp among you, and tell them how much you loved what he/she did or said. Most important of all, be sincere, be truthful, avoid playacting, because playacting can be felt. This letter you can read aloud to them, or hand it over in an envelope. Let us celebrate a Valentine’s Day without WhatsApp.

3 Why not give them that course of training she has always wanted to take? To love is also to love watching someone develop, to love watching someone flourish, to love watching someone grow intellectually, and so on. The occasion of celebrating love is equally, if not primarily, the occasion to show the other person that you care about their betterment, by paying for a swimming class, a music class, a language class, an accounting class, or who knows what else!?! The examples are legion. Do not let the ease of our century, lived "behind our screens", kill off or disguise your passion.

Most important of all, choose a noble and original way of showing them that you have an interest in who they are, in their whole being, and not merely in one part of their body. Long live love!!

M.Z.