Happy Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day can be an awkward holiday. Although it’s usually seen as a good-natured way for couples to profess their love, the event can have a challenging side for those who struggle to come up with just the right card, gift or gesture to fit the occasion. And for some single people, Valentine’s often becomes an excuse to dwell on loneliness by diving into a bucket of ice cream or fried chicken.

That’s why we were so heartened by a column last week from a local teacher, who was kind enough to share a few Valentines from her elementary school students. The heartfelt and sometimes comic poems the students came up with were heartwarming in their simplicity, like one that read:

Horses are lovely. Ducks are, too.

But the thing I love most is being with you.

Doesn’t that just melt your heart?

Reading the Valentines was a reminder of what the holiday means to young children, who spend hours making handcrafted cards to hand out to classmates. For kids, the holiday isn’t fraught with romantic overtones and anxiety. Instead, it’s an occasion to reach out to their friends with a simple gesture of caring.

There’s a message for us all in the way children celebrate this holiday. Rather than fretting over how many roses to buy or whether or not they’ve got a date, kids seem to be concerned only with putting the happiness of others above that of themselves. That’s something we should all strive for.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t spoil your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day. There’s nothing wrong with chocolates and roses.

But there’s also nothing wrong with reaching out to a friend or neighbor to offer a simple thanks for their friendship. There’s nothing wrong with asking someone how their day is or offering a caring word of encouragement to someone who is struggling. Sometimes the simplest gestures are the ones that go the furthest.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of our loyal readers, whose love of local news is the best and only gift a community newspaper could ever wish for.

We’ll take chocolates though, too.