Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day is a day to tell those you care about that you love them. (even though you should do that every day.) For a long time, I thought that Valentines Day was a "holiday" made by Hallmark to sell more cards. There is actually a very interesting story behind Valentines Day. The story takes place during the third century, and is about a man named Valentine. The ruler of Rome, where Valentine lived, was angry because he thought that his soldiers were lazy because they spent too much time with their families. For this reason, he made a law that I personally think is pretty crazy: he decreed that getting married was against the law! After a time, the ruler noticed that nothing changed with the personality of his soldiers. He then was informed that a priest named Valentine was marrying people at his church despite the law. Valentine was arrested and put in jail. There was a young woman, the jailer's daughter, who brought him food every day. When Valentine complemented her about her beauty, she told him that she was not beautiful and was a burden to her family because she was blind, and she would probably never get married. (During that time, blind people were pretty much helpless and no one would marry them.) This routine continued for a few weeks, until the jailer told hime to stop. he said that his daughter and hime were poor and what Valentine said was breaking his daughter's heart. When she came in, Valentine called on the name of God, and something miraculous happened: her blindness was healed! The jailer and his daughter were overjoyed. Valentine asked her to marry him, and she said yes. A few days later a man who was Valentine's apprentice came to jailbreak Valentine. Valentine, however refused. He said that that was not God's plan, and he must remain in jail. The man stayed long enough to marry Valentine and the jailer's daughter. The ruler of Rome eventually brought Valentine to him and said that he would let him go if he would stop marrying people and follow the law, when Valentine wouldn't, he was sentenced to death. Valentine died on February 14, 269 A.D. He was declared a martyr and a saint by the Roman Catholic church. We celebrate Valentines Day to show love, which is what Valentine was all about.