Valentines's Day 02/14/2010.......by Jamil Shawwa

The feast of love, Valentine’s Day. We in the USA will celebrate it tomorrow. We will celebrate not only love but will celebrate life with all its components. Tomorrow we will invite that special- or just family- one to lunch or dinner, or maybe just coffee, we will look in the eyes and say, happy Valentine’s Day, thank you for being with me, thank you for sharing this moment with me and thank you for allowing me to love you. I am amazed, trying to be polite here, at some authorities specifically in some Arab Gulf countries who are citing religious reasons for preventing its people from celebrating love. Show me one religion that bans such celebrations. Enough extremism and manipulation in the name of Islam, or any other religion. Religions brought to earth to spread love and humanity and not fanaticism, terrorism and extremism. I am shocked at these backward, no brains that set in their Ivory towers telling people what is right and what is wrong. It is time as we celebrate love, to ignore those Ivory towers, back rooms, voices of darkness and despair, and go out and celebrate love, all kinds of love. It is not for me or anyone else on earth to tell you how you should celebrate or if you should celebrate, as long as it is your choice. Happy Valentine’s Day.