A Variety of Valentine's Day Cards

Here are a variety of Valentine's cards--antique cards, new cards, all sorts--with no comment. Let's let the speak for themselves--and happy Valentine's Day!

May We All Feel This Way About a Valentine

On Valentine's Day I thought I would share excerpts of a letter by Oscar Wilde, written in May of 1895 to his love, Alfred Douglas, from Wilde's prison cell.

"My sweet rose, my delicate flower, my lily of lilies, it is perhaps in prison that I am going to test the power of love. I am going to see if I cannot make the bitter warders sweet by the intensity of the love I bear you. I have had moments when I thought it would be wise to separate. Ah! Moments of weakness and madness! Now I see that would have mutilated my life, ruined my art, broken the musical chords which make a perfect soul. Even covered with mud I shall praise you, from the deepest abysses I shall cry to you. In my solitude you will be with me. I am determined not to revolt but to accept every outrage through devotion to love, to let my body be dishonored so long as my soul may always keep the image of you. From your silken hair to your delicate feet you are perfection to me. Pleasure hides love from us, but pain reveals it in its essence. O dearest of created things, if someone wounded by silence and solitude comes to you, dishonored, a laughing-stock, Oh! You can close his wounds by touching them and restore his soul which unhappiness had for a moment smothered. Nothing will be difficult for you then, and remember, it is that hope which makes me live, and that hope alone. What wisdom is to the philosopher, what God is to his saint, you are to me. To keep you in my soul, such is the goal of this pain which men call life. O my love, you whom I cherish above all things, white narcissus in an unmown field, think of the burden which falls to you, a burden which love alone can make light. ... I love you, I love you, my heart is a rose which your love has brought to bloom, my life is a desert fanned by the delicious breeze of your breath, and whose cool spring are your eyes; the imprint of your little feet makes valleys of shade for me, the odour of your hair is like myrrh, and wherever you go you exhale the perfumes of the cassia tree.

"Love me always, love me always. You have been the supreme, the perfect love of my life; there can be no other..."

May we all feel this way about someone at least once in our lives and not be afraid to say what we feel.

Happy Valentine's Day regardless of if you have one, or not. 

On the Outside Looking In

(no win situations) = trouble

The Maine decision has come and gone and voters have decided that not everyone in their fair state is equal. As has happened thirty times before, a targeted minority, homosexuals men and women, has been denied their civil rights by a state's electorate.

My whole life people have told me how bad the gay lifestyle is. Growing up I had it explained to me that because homos won't not settle down and have kids, they can "never understand being an adult." Since gays won't act like adults, the logic went, they are doomed to a life of loneliness and misery.

Happily as I grew into adulthood a different scenario came onto the scene--the gay marriage movement. "Wow," I thought, "this will be an opportunity for gay people to be what most people said could not be--real adults, with responsibilities to a spouse, children and a mortgage."

How foolish I was. For the same people who complained about queers tricking all night and not settling down WOULD NOT ALLOW HOMOS THE SIMPLE ABILITY TO DO SO. The had created a room with no windows and no doors. Queers were damned for not being "adult" and damned for wanting to be one.

No win situations can create anger, depression anxiety and a variety of other emotions as well. I wonder what the end result of denying a minority of tax-paying adults the right to marry will create in the long run?

How Can You Find Friends?

 (leaving your house) + (pursuing your interests) = relationships

A friend of mine recently blogged about how he was to "Stop looking for friends (i'm sure they will come in due time)"

And that got me thinking about how similar friendships and love are. Both happen when they happen.  One can create circumstances to make it easier to find but ultimately fate holds controls the outcome of our actions.

I found my best friend when I found him. I did not seek out a best friend, I actually had one--but he arose in an unexpected circumstance and it just happened.

The same with love. You can put yourself on personals site and have some great pictures made. But it is still up to the fickle finger of fate if and when someone you can love finds you.

So what to do? Make the first move. Take the initiative. Get out there. Turn off the TV and the laptop and walk out the door. Immerse yourself in events and do for others. Resist going home and accept invitations when they come. No invitations? Invite someone to coffee or drinks or bowling or an antique show. Get out there and live...and the friends, and possibly even love, will follow.

Read Damien's blog here.