Valentines Day. Depending who you mention it to, you'll be greeted with glee or dismay. It's one of those holidays that you can't describe as particularly good or bad. It's ultimately up to the machinations of an individual's opinion. But for better or worse, it's another of those holidays we all have to go through and can't avoid nor ignore. Like it or not, Valentine's day is here, whether it's a fine day to spend with loved ones or a painful twenty-four hour-long reminder that you're alone.

Now there is really nothing I can express here that hasn't already been conveyed six-times better and more expressively than I am capable of conveying myself. But I'm not going to remark on how the holiday effects me; as my dear Mother always says, "Attitude is a choice". I am not commenting on whether the holiday pains or pleases me. I'm bringing to light an often over-looked notion I find this holiday inspires.

Hope.

Now given that hope is an omni-present notion that permeates nearly every emotion whether you notice it or not, and it certainly doesn't need a hallmark holiday primarily about love to bring it to our attention. But regardless, we still tend to over-look or ignore hope while we over-look or ignore it in favour of love or spite respectively. There is an almost infinite amount of applicatioms for hope, but today I comment upon it as it pertains to Valentine's day.

But where is hope? Why do we even need it?

Ever been a lonely heart on this day? Ever feel the envy and anger towards the joyous couples that surround you? Perhaps even cried tears of resolute sorrow, asking why you have to be alone, and begging some omnipotent being for somebody of your own. All theses feelings amplified as the holiday serves as a reminder to your loneliness.

Or perhaps you're a fortunate couple, at home in the embrace of the one you love. But have you ever feared the integrity of your relationship? Do you fear it's untimely and undoubtably painful end? Or perhaps feared your love stagnating rather than blossoming into something more? In someways, even to the lucky, this holiday can be a vessel of fear.

But it's hope that makes the difference. It's hope that differentiates the truly horrible from the blissfully wonderful. It's the driving force behind the ambition that pushes us to achieve more or fix what's broken. To the lonely heart, it's comfort and motivation to cure your all-pervasive sorrow. To the happy couple, it's ambition and assurance that things will be alright. Without it, we stagnate. Then we wither or we suffer. We let fear and spite rule us, then simply allow all our good to meet its end.

Hope is where you can find it, however you may find it, but it is also one of the hardest things to find. As humans, we are dominated by our emotions, and such can blind us from the things that inspire hope. Sometimes we need to be reminded that it's there, and sometimes we need to be reminded to look for it. And often, no amount of reminders can make us privy to its existance when we are so lost in the fog of our emotional turmoil.

We find hope where we need it, and we need hope because it's the one true weapon we have against the things that'd drag us under. To me, Valentine's day may not inspire love, but it reminds me of all the hope I need and will need, as hope continues to serve as my life-raft in the turbulent sea of emotions. And to all those dragged down by this day, I hope this rant inspires you to reach for hope as well.

Happy Valentine's Day.