“This place is the beat
of my heart”
Today is Valentine’s
Day, and as procrastinators scramble to the nearest grocery or drug store to
pick out something for their sweetheart, I can’t help but dwell on how our
hearts are always moving. They are always sending us this way and that. Do we listen
to our hearts more than we should, or not enough? I think I often forget that
the heart is a muscle. It has to be trained and worked out too. Many people
neglect this fact and go through the motions with seemingly a lot of love for
someone, only to find out it wasn’t really love at all. Or, they don’t work
hard enough at growing the heart muscle, and give up too soon on something that
will make them happy.
I loved Valentine’s Day
when I was young. Every year, I would pick out the same teddy bear Valentines.
Who doesn’t love getting cute little cards with people’s first names on them?
Who doesn’t love getting chocolate? As a kid, Valentine’s Day didn’t seem forced. I can argue today, as an
adult, that is does seemed forced. It’s very forced, actually. Valentine’s Day
loses some of the romance in all of the movement and hustle and bustle (how
romantic is it to receive a Hallmark card and conversation hearts in the first
place?). There is little element of surprise in Valentine’s Day. Why would I
want to give someone a pre-packaged box of the same chocolates I saw my
neighbor buying her husband…on the same exact day I gave one to my significant
other? The expectation is that you are expected to participate in Valentine’s
Day if you are in a relationship. How boring, I say. Love should never be that
trivial or routine. It’s like saying love is on standby every other day of the
year. It’s not like celebrating someone’s birth, where the day is etched in
history and personal. No, love cannot be pigeonholed into one way or day.
Showing love and having heart are my
go-to themes when writing because it’s such an important part of life. In fact,
I named one of the characters in my fictional novel-in-progress Corwin because
it means ‘friend of the heart’. Heart is a superb word for poetry because it
rhymes with so many other words. It is also a valid word for use in prose
because it conveys and describes so many character traits, emotions and
feelings. Heart is heard throughout the sports world too. Have you known an
athlete who is “all heart” or “always puts his/her heart into every game”? What
does the phrase “heart of the order” mean in baseball, or “heart of the team”
in team sports?
Heart, in sports, is
not about doing what everyone else does in the same way everyone else does it.
No. Heart it about racing, not simply running. Anyone can run. Do you have
someone or something in your life that makes your heart race? Really race? You’re
lucky if you know the feeling. It is unlike any other.
Heart is your center of
spirit, the part of you that beats even when beaten, pumps even when pulled,
and loves even when there is hate. The human heart, literally and figuratively,
has authority. It has power to be used for anything at all. You cannot fake “having
heart”, which is why I believe Valentine’s Day is merely a “holiday” to
celebrate going through the motions of love.
“It’s sweet and it’s
sad and it’s true how it doesn’t look bitter on you”
