Tales of Valentine’s Day legends
Tomorrow will be Valentine’s Day. Or
Saint Valentine’s Day, if you prefer a religious theme.
I wonder if anyone will send me a valentine. I doubt it. Because Valentine’s Day has its roots in a Roman festival of fertility.
Lupercalia celebrated the first flashes of spring in southern Italy. Naked men romped through the streets, hitting women with strips of bloody skin from sacrificed animals, to make them more fecund. A lottery paired eligible men and women. Perhaps for life. Perhaps just for a night.
At my age, I’m long past fertility rites. Valentine himself may actually have been themselves. Catholic history identifies three sainted Valentines. All three were executed. One of them may have written a secret letter to his jailer’s daughter, signed “Your Valentine,” thus setting a pattern for future Valentines.
Just to confuse matters, some histories suggest that two of the legendary Valentines may have been the same person, both executed on February 14 by Emperor Claudius II, but in two different years.
Go figure.
Once upon a time, of course, we all made little valentines. Our school teachers provided coloured paper and lace doilies that we could cut up and stick together.
I distantly remember having crushes on various girls. I always hoped they’d feel the love oozing out of the card I made for them. And vice versa, I suppose. But it’s hard to sense true love when everyone gets a card.
Joan and I gave each other valentine cards, most years. If we remembered. Also, if we got to the store before the only cards left were either profane or ridiculously sentimental.
Sometimes I bought flowers instead. Another fertility symbol, I suppose.
Valentine’s Day seems somewhat fruitless for one who now lives alone. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not whining. I’m much more comfortable with being on my own these days. When I think about it, I live a privileged life. I have a warm house. I have adequate income. I eat well. I have friends.
But it does give me an outsider’s perspective on the urge to couple up.
In our society, solo life is the exception, not the rule. Perhaps in every society. The Buddhist monk living in a cave high above a Himalayan river, the Christian ascetic perched on a pillar in the desert, that attractive man or woman without a partner — these are the “odd man out.”
Arthur Koestler coined the term “holon”; philosopher Ken Wilber popularized it. It means (I think) that every living entity has a deep desire to transcend the limitations of being an isolated individual. Single-celled creatures want to clump together. Multicelled creatures want to work together.
Wolves form packs. Birds form flocks. Fish form schools.
We humans join hands and hearts in social organizations. We march for civil rights. We attend meetings. We hold reunions. We join political parties and churches, to affirm what we believe in, as a collective group.
I’m not sure where this urge to merge comes from. Some will cite the Bible, where the Creation story says that God made everything and “saw that it was good” — until
God made the first human, and saw that being alone was not good.
So God created a second human. This time, female.
Both, according to Genesis, created in
God’s own image.
If that puzzles you, forget it. Clearly, two was preferable to one.
Referring to the Bible also can’t explain why cultures that have no acquaintance with the Hebrew scriptures still form couples.
Some would say it’s an instinctive desire to procreate, to have sex, to have children. Why then do some couples choose to remain childless? Indeed, some loving couples cannot have children.
Our marriage rituals emphasize this sense of incorporation into a larger body. Of two becoming one. Of bonding with each other, “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”
I’m less enamoured with the notion of possession, in marriage — the sense in many cultures, even in ours, still, that the male now owns the female. She belongs to him, to do with as he pleases.
Even the traditional valentine message implies possession: “Be MY Valentine.”
I don’t want to be an outsider; I want to belong. But I don’t want to belong to somebody else. I certainly don’t want someone else to belong to me.
Partnership, yes; possession, no.
How would one put that into a conventional Valentine’s card?
Summerland Coun. Richard Barkwill’s letter in the Penticton Herald Feb. 11 concerning the solar project in Summerland has only confirmed what I tried to articulate July 13 at a “public information” session.
The project will cost the taxpayers much more than the $980,000 from the public coffers that council approved. It will cost almost double that, but it will also continue to cost the taxpayers. The electrical infrastructure required for initial startup does not appear to be included and I can’t imagine that cost.
I have been opposed to the project from the beginning and my opinion has not changed.
Isn’t it time councils paid more attention to the priorities of their constituents and less to government priorities. The solar project is a complex project and, as such, the district has neither the expertise or manpower to supervise and operate this project. I believe council should revisit the project, this time with the “correct” information and abandon the project.
MELBOURNE — Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Denis Shapovalov in an all-Canadian clash in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday, while Milos Raonic may have caught a break after securing his ticket to the round of 16.
The 20th-seeded Auger-Aliassime beat No. 11 seed Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 in the first Grand Slam meeting between two Canadian men in the third round or later.
Meanwhile, the 14th-seeded Raonic beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and then watched his next opponent, top seed Novak Djokovic, suffer an injury, putting his status in doubt for the fourth round.
Djokovic said he tore a muscle during a fall in his five-set victory over American Taylor Fritz and might need to withdraw.
“I know it’s a tear, definitely, of the muscle, so I don’t know if I’ll manage to recover from that in less than two days. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m going to step out onto the court or not,” said Djokovic, who is 11-0 against Raonic.
The Shapovalov-Auger-Aliassime match was just the fifth Grand Slam meeting between two Canadian men in the Open Era.
“I was flawless and I played an amazing match,” said Auger-Aliassime, a Montrealer. “Of course, it’s a shame we have to play each other. Hopefully in the future we’ll meet later in the tournament, but I can just be happy about my performance tonight.”
Auger-Aliassime is now 2-2 lifetime at the top level against Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont. The 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime has tied a career best by reaching the round of 16 at a Grand Slam. He also advanced to the fourth round at last year’s U.S. Open.
Longtime friends, Auger-Aliassime first met Shapovalov more than a decade ago at a national tennis camp in Toronto when both were 10 years old.
Shapovalov stayed at Auger-Aliassime’s house for part of his improbable run to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup in 2017.
“It’s never easy to play Denis,” AugerAliassime said on the court after the match. “We played for the first time when we were nine and 10, so we go back a long time.
“He’s beaten me pretty bad a couple of times and tonight went my way.”
Auger-Aliassime won 77 per cent of points when he got his first serve in, 16 per cent better than Shapovalov.
Valentine’s Day, the largest chocolate and flower day of the year happens tomorrow. You’re welcome to all the gents reading this, you've still got time to pick up something for your sweetheart.
In addition to flowers, chocolate, wine and heart-shaped pizzas, paradoxically February is also hearthealth month. As much as we’d like to believe consuming a box of dark chocolates and a bottle of red wine after dinner can be good for the heart, the palette is by far the body part experiencing the greatest benefits.
Now, before you all go labelling me as anti-chocolate and no fun, I am a chocolate lover. In fact I’ve created several chocolate recipes that are not only delicious, but healthy. Something I’ve been able to share and help my clients stay on track with their health goals and not feel deprived. And on the rare occasion, I’ll have a glass of red wine.
Dark chocolate and red wine both contain resveratrol, a component that does promote heart health. What most people don’t know however, is that the amount of resveratrol you’d ingest over dessert with your sweetheart, isn’t enough to make a significant difference in your health.
As you’ve heard (or read) me say before, we can get all the nutrients our body needs from food. There’s no question God gave us great stuff here on this planet. The question is, do we? An article published by the Kressler Institute in 2018 reported, “More than half the calories Americans consume, come from nutrient-depleted, ultra-processed foods...” and went on to say that “Nearly one-third (31%) of the U.S. population is at risk for at least one vitamin deficiency or anemia.”
United States stats are always easier to dig up, but trust me, Canadians are right there too.
Since we’re smack dab in the middle of heart month, let's look at three supplements that are known for building and supporting a healthy heart. I’ve already mentioned resveratrol. Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10, and Omega 3.
As with any nutrient, taking a supplement should not be considered a replacement for the healthy foods that also contain the same nutrients. Supplements are to come alongside and fill the gaps, not provide a “get-out-of-eating-your-veggies” free card.
Of these three, if you take supplements at all, you're most likely using, or at least have heart of, omega 3s. Several types of fish including salmon, lake trout, sardines, herring, anchovies, as well as nuts, seeds, flaxseed, and chia all contain omega 3 fatty acids. Great for supporting brain function, alleviating rheumatoid arthritis, and joint pain, omega 3s also help to lower blood fat levels.
In other words, omega 3s help bring down elevated triglycerides and lowers cholesterol, which also brings down your risk of heart disease and stroke. And unless you’re eating fish daily, supplementing is definitely a good idea.
Resveratrol, found in red grapes and cocoa beans — red wine and dark chocolate — is known for its antioxidant properties and a 2015 review posted on PubMed concluded “high doses may help reduce the pressure exerted on artery walls when the heart beats,” bringing down blood pressure.
Of course, consuming high doses of red wine or chocolate for that matter would produce the opposite effect, creating inflammation. So, supplementing is the way to go.
Researchers also found supplementing with resveratrol had a positive impact on overall cholesterol levels and may also help decrease plaque buildup inside
Unlike resveratrol and omega 3, Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is something our bodies produce naturally.
According to a June 2019 article by Dr. Josh Axe, CoQ10 helps cells produce energy and neutralize free radicals, the damaged cells that cause illness and aging, improve heart health.
It offsets negative effects of statin drugs, slows down DNA damage due to aging, helps maintain ph balance, may slow or reverse the spread of some cancers, supports cognitive function, may improve male infertility, treats symptoms of fibromyalgia.
The amount of CoQ10 our bodies produce reduces with age. And although consuming foods that contain CoQ10 such as meats, poultry, fish, eggs, beans and nuts is something everyone should be doing, Dr. Axe goes on to say that for people who, “struggle with certain health conditions, such as heart disease … having chronic diseases, high levels of stress, deficient in vitamin B, mitochondria diseases, taking statin drugs,” food alone may not be enough as these conditions further impede CoQ10 production.
And as the heart is just one of many areas CoQ10 is needed for optimal health, it's in our best interest to keep those levels up.
As with anything you put in your body, quality matters. Like your car, the better quality fuel you put in, the better performance you’re going to get. Whether it’s food or supplements, same goes for your body. And in case there was any doubt, that old adage “you get what you pay for,” is true.
February’s the perfect time to give your heart and yourself some love. You’re worth it.
The last few weeks, an interesting story unfolded with a gaming company called GameStop, which is EB Games in Canada.
Gamestop stock was extremely low in value last year. With the pandemic, people weren’t shopping brickand-mortar stores, while digital sales were rising.
This caused some people to bet that the companies stock would go even lower, in particular hedge-fund managers, who did something called shorting the GameStop stock.
A simple way of explaining shorting a stock is you borrow a stock at, let’s say, $10 a share. You are betting that stock will go down to $6 when you have to give it back. You keep the extra $4 multiplied by a large number of stocks.
With a bit of research, people online found out that people were betting millions and millions that the companies value would continue to go down. So a group of people on a forum decided to buy the stock and raise and value of the stock.
Those people betting against the stock would have to buy the stock back at a much higher price. This cost those “short sellers” millions of dollars.
The story of “people hacking” the system is false. People simply did a bit of research and found out about the bets against the GameStop company.
People simply used the system to stick it to those people that usually stick it to others. Those people buying the stock to push against “short sellers” made a ton of money, but it still was a risk.
The people buying the stock had the same risk that others have buying any stock.
This case shows is even regular people when they come together can still change things.