Valentine syndrome

I REFUSE t o t al k about Valentines; it is uncharacteristic and will become a struggle for credibility to talk about love. No. Not I. The ultimate joke the universe is having my un-valentine like column fall on the day of the hearts, yes that is next week. I can hear the universe laughing.

So what will we talk about now? Issues at hand, current events, basketball, and the weather?

The world is changing, the glaciers are melting, China has artificial islands, Mayon volcano has been moved to Naga and my pay is still the same.

Tough luck for the poor struggling journalist and a much more painful struggle is the task to write about Valentines.

I have circumvented the issue for years, focusing on the economics of it all, from the price of flowers, traffic, suicide rate, restaurant promos to hotel room prices, yes I have exploited all possible aspects of the dreaded day of the hearts.

For this year, allow me to best write about the day of love in my own way, in the way I know best and in the way I know not to cringe.

An editor friend once posted on his social media account he needed live stories for this week’s edition of his paper saying the more tragic or disastrous the story, the more chances to be printed.

Does love dwell on tragedy, or have we become too callused to anticipate a lover’s downfall even before the affair takes off. Valentine is the season for a push and pull of thoughts occur, feelings progress from nonchalance, disgust, anger, acceptance and well sarcasm throughout the day.

In 2010, I met Doctor Tali Bashour, a clinical Professor of Medicine from the University of California in San Francisco who told me of the “broken heart syndrome,” linking emotions to heart disease. Bashour study linking emotional stress on heart ailments apply to people under extreme emotional stress and commonalities undergoing trauma.

Bashour cited several cases where emotional stress led to heart attacks in the span of his studies; he said extreme emotions can trigger heart ailments like joy, anger, jealousy and disgust.

In a random post on social media, I read that the pain your feel when you break up with someone you love [assuming you were in the relationship for love in the first place] resembles the physical pain you feel when hurt… so the phrase “It cuts like a knife” will ring true for the brokenhearted. If we feel physical pain during a breakup or a lovers spat and if we can literally die of a broken heart then I must be some kind of mutant to still be alive. Happy Valentines!