Breaking Tradition

Valentine’s Day, in its earlier years, has been all about breaking tradition and deception. One of the initial instances of this holiday began during the reign of Roman emperor Claudius II. He believed that soldiers that were married made poor soldiers and mandated that anyone serving their country be single. However, one of Claudius’ priests, Valentine, disagreed and would conduct secret marriages for the young men—sometimes the men would be as early as twelve! When the emperor found out about these marriages, he ordered Valentine to be beheaded. While he was awaiting his execution in jail, he befriended the jailer’s daughter and would send her notes inscribed: “from your Valentine.” Thus begins the tradition of the worst holiday created in history.

I don’t know why St. Valentine gets sainthood for creating the worst holiday in world history. Although his intentions were not aiming to create the biggest Hallmark holiday, they were instead used for helping people achieve the happiness that they deserve in spite of what authority may say. But I still think the holiday is one of the worst creations ever created by man, because it only proves that the emperor was somewhat right: on a day like February 14th, everyone becomes a sap for one day.

Now I feel I must backtrack, because my intentions of blogging are not to bring down the holiday. Normally, people buy gifts for their lovers on a day like today; however, I am going to break tradition. There have been three important people in my life that I feel I do not give enough credit to, because I have spent a majority of my life ignoring the things that they have done to make me into the person that I am today. Since my resolution was to repair some of the relationships that I have damaged, I felt it was appropriate to use Valentine’s day to herald these individuals in the only way I know how to show my appreciation: by writing.

Her name is Miranda, my youngest sister. She is 15 and she is taller than me. I don’t know if that makes me feel older or smaller, but in any case, she’s got the legs and figure of a model. Out of all of my siblings, I feel like she has had the hardest time growing up within our house. The reason why I say this is because me and my two other siblings, constantly picked on her. Looking back on those days, I feel ashamed that I could never take the things that I have done/said to her. Recently, I have started making a change in my behavior and interactions with my sister.

There are several things that I find in my sister that makes me really appreciate her. She is a fragile flower. She is very beautiful; but at the same time, Miranda does not show it off the way other girls do. Another trait that she possesses is the girl can talk, almost as much as me. Last Sunday, we went out for frozen yogurt, and she told me some stories. Finally, I know that she is going to become a very talented and beautiful woman when she grows up.

Next person is my other sister Kera. Growing up, we hardly got along—unless our mother bribed us. It was your typical sibling rivalry. But like all siblings that grow up together, eventually we set aside our differences and began to enjoy each other’s company. Now when I see her, I notice just how much talent she has as a both a musician as well as a person. She exposes her talent as well as her personality to the people that are involved in her life. I know one day she is going to succeed and make it big in the music industry, and she is not too far from that day either! It seems that whenever I have a problem, she is always there to listen.

Finally, we have my mother. Mothers are sacred beings. They are responsible for holding the key to a better future as well as generation. Growing up, my mother would always tell me that one of the best decisions she ever made was becoming a mother, and everyday that I am interacting with my mom, I see that she is a woman of her word. Growing up, my mom was my best friend. There was never a person that would devote themselves to finding the best decisions for their children than she.

When I was a kid, I would always write letters to my mom, because I felt that this gift was my only way of best conveying my thoughts. In return, my mother would write back, in the most beautiful penmanship. So to an extent, I want to thank my mom for encouraging me to write. Had it not been for her, I would probably be an engineer.

Valentine’s day is a day where people become sappy and emotional as they hand See’s Candy to their lovers along with some bear that will only end up at the nearest Salvation Army in six months. On a day like today, we feel obligated that we need to give gifts or express our affection to those that we care about. I am too poor as of this point to give gifts, so I would rather use the gift that my own mother gave me to let her, as well as my sisters, know how much she/they mean to me in my life. I don’t like buying cards, because they never say what is on my mind, so I would rather write in boring black and white because that’s what Valentine did the same thing.