Textbook Hearts
Textbook Hearts
by Christina Fain
I had an interesting discussion with my seven-year-old daughter recently. She said she didn’t get it when people say to her, “You have a good heart.” She didn’t understand and told me as a matter of fact “but we all have the same heart” and then drew me a picture of a heart like the one you might find in a biology textbook. I’m not sure she understood the difference between her emotional heart and the real thing.
Her seven-year-old confusion really made me think. We do all have the same heart—the same “textbook heart.” What if we all used it in the same way? A textbook heart is the root of our being and what keeps us going every day.
Valentine’s Day is approaching, and it is a holiday I dread. The commercialization and pressure put upon us are silly and unnecessary. Yes, it is intended to celebrate romance, but maybe we should look beyond that. This can be a depressing time of year for a lot of people. The weather is unpredictable and downright nasty in some places. The holidays have passed, and families have settled back into their routine—and then February 14 rolls around.
We buy the chocolates, the obligatory red-cellophane-wrapped gifts for our significant others—and for what? To show them that we love them when we should be expressing love and romancing them all year? (By the way, if you research the history behind the day, you will see that “Valentine’s Day” should be celebrated more than one time a year.)
Every year my daughter and her best friend have lunch together and exchange small gifts. It’s a tradition a friend of mine and I started with our infants, probably as an excuse to have lunch and get out of the house, but it stuck, and we look forward to it. Friends. We love them too.
February 14 doesn’t just have to be all about romance and your significant other. Try and remember we all have the textbook hearts, but we need to work on our emotional ones. Think about the hearts of the people you may be taking for granted. Ask yourself when was the last time you told someone, other than your significant other “I love you and I’m glad you’re in my life!”
Think about those single people you know who may be struggling with the holiday. Think about the elderly who appreciate the thrill of getting a physical card in the mail. Imagine if they received a balloon or two. Think about the mail lady who probably exhausted herself delivering Amazon packages to your door a month ago!
When it comes down to it, romance is great, but we should recognize the similarities between the two hearts. Both are the center of our being—physically and emotionally Let’s face it, everyone could use a little adrenaline boost in their emotional heart. Find a way. After all, we have it in us.
Photo credit by: Tyler Nix (Los Angeles CA) @jtylernix
