Valentine's Day is not just a day when everyone suddenly decides to confess their love. This day has become a day of commerce, marketing, and beautiful but empty gestures. This is a holiday when even those who are not used to expressing their feelings find an opportunity to pamper their significant other with something that will make their day "special." But what is true love? What does it even mean?

For me, love is not a momentary feeling that you experience once a year. It is not a day when you need to drink champagne and give away cards. Love is faith, it is patience, it is daily care for a person, attention that does not stop with each new day. And it is for this reason that I cannot support a holiday that often turns into a show, where everything comes down to form, not to essence.

I am a Catholic, and faith occupies a special place in my life. And it is this that helps me understand that true love is not some superficial gesture, not glamorous confessions, not bright gifts. It is an action. It is endless respect and care that do not come from the calendar, but from the depths of the heart. After all, love, as Christ teaches us, does not seek benefits, does not focus on the external. It does not wait for a certain day to declare itself. If you love, you love always, and not just on February 14.

I understand that many men and women perceive Valentine's Day as a chance to show their care, but, alas, depth is lost in it. After all, true recognition and true attention, in my opinion, should not be limited to a calendar date. I believe that love in any form should be honest and sincere. Not to buy love for yourself, not to earn it, not to earn a day on the calendar for someone. And living in love, we do small but important things every day.

It is these actions, these little things, in my opinion, that create the basis for real, strong relationships. And this belief in true love, which does not need holidays, is absolutely natural for me as a Catholic. After all, in our lives we must reflect the love of Christ, which was self-sacrifice, and not a compliment, not banal phrases or bright gifts.

But I do not want you to think that I am against attention and care. I am for sincere actions. I am for the moment when you want to do something good for another person for no particular reason. This is love. After all, it does not wait for some “official” day to be shown. For me, this day of February 14 is just another reason for reflection, and not for the external attributes of the holiday.

If you are reading this letter and thinking about how to be closer, deeper, more sincere in a relationship, then I am happy. And not because you agree with me 100%, but because you want to understand more, you are ready for a real relationship, not a superficial one.

Don't expect anything important from February 14, except for a reminder that true love is every day, every moment.

Respectfully,
Lana Banana