Happy Valentine's Day! What would you do for love?

There are many stories about how and why Valentine's Day was created. Every holiday has its origin, and Valentine's Day is no exception. This one, however, is more interesting because it is about love and what people and even Greek gods and goddesses have done for love, from Greek and Christian tradition. The Christian tradition talks about a Saint Valentine, who wrote notes to his beloved in jail "from your valentine".

But I was a literature major in college, so Greek mythology always fascinated me. So we'll talk about Cupid and the Greek gods and goddesses and what they did for love.

Cupid is thought of as the jolly fat cherub flitting about zapping people with arrows, often making the most unlikely partners. It reminds me of "Midsummer Night's Dream", one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, where Titania falls in love with a donkey for a night because of Puck the fairy's hijinks - Shakespeare is skillful at giving us a hilarious look at the unsteady nature of love and jealousy, and it is quite a night before everything is restored in the morning. Is it all a dream, or is it the nature of love to be jealous and possessive? So many stories show us this side of love, and Cupid's story is no better in Greek mythology, but it does have redeeming qualities and a woman, Psyche, that overcomes impossible odds to be with her love eternally.

Cupid is the incarnation of Eros, the god of love and desire, and he was a beautiful god. His mother, Aphrodite, was jealous of Psyche, a beautiful mortal, so he was sent to destroy her. But one look at her and he was head over heels in love with her! He arranged to have her come live with him, but he did this in disguise so she never saw him. Her sisters got jealous and made her wonder what he looked like, and one night she did sneak a peek in the dark with a candle, and he was disappointed that she didn't trust him. He awoke and saw her standing there, and told her he must leave her, for "love cannot dwell where there is no trust." Realizing what a fool she was, Psyche went to Aphrodite for help, and she set about making Psyche perform a number of seemingly impossible tasks. In each case, Psyche was assisted by a god, and so she performed all the jobs assigned to her by Venus, even though the last one almost killed her! Eventually, Psyche and Cupid were reunited, and allowed to marry, with her becoming immortal and living with Cupid in their kingdom.

What will you do for love? What have you done? I am sure no impossible tasks like Psyche, but I am sure many of you have stories out there that show your love for your husband and wife that are unbelievable to others. Many times we are not really aware of how much we love someone until that person gets sick, or goes away, or rejects us (for good or bad reasons). I just recently saw "Love and Other Drugs" and I was reminded that love is really the most redeeming emotion - it makes us do things we would NEVER do otherwise - care for a sick loved one, go through trials, pain and redemption for those we love. I suppose the more we go through with someone, the more we love them. And no one that has been married for 10 years or more will tell you that marriage has been easy. But it is worth it - and so is love - true love.

So Valentine's Day is a day to show your beloved you love them - and it should be just one special day to show appreciation, along with the other 364 days in the year. Right? :)