VALENTINE'S DAY SENDS MESSAGE BEYOND FLOWER BOUQUETS, CANDY.

Byline: James Bemis Commentary

I don't care if cynics think Valentine's Day was invented by greeting-card companies to boost profits. It doesn't matter to me how many people get rich selling Valentine's gifts to us romantic fools. And if the rest of the world sneers at Valentine's Day as silly and old-fashioned, that's OK too.

I like it anyway.

Let skeptics note that Valentine's Day predates the modern invention of greeting cards. Its lineage goes all the way back to the Roman days when they celebrated a feast in February in honor of the pastoral god Lupercus, their equivalent of the Greek god Pan.

Christians later adapted their feast day to St. Valentine, an early church martyr and now, appropriately, the patron saint of engaged couples and anyone wishing to marry. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints, Valentine was a Catholic priest jailed by Claudius II for assisting martyrs during the emperor's persecution of Christians.

Legend has it that Valentine wrote notes to children who gathered outside his cell, telling them he loved them. Still preaching the faith, Valentine was soon sentenced to die. Before he was beheaded, though, he sent a farewell message to his jailer's daughter - whose sight he had restored - signing it, ``From your Valentine.''

And thus a tradition was born.

Valentine's Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate the romantic that lies within us, to rejoice in the wealth of our hearts. Giving flowers, cards, and candy is simply the physical expression of a sentiment, an appreciation of what another human being means in our lives, a reflection in miniature of the divine love so freely given to us.

Valentine's Day just isn't for lovers, though, it's also a day for showing affection for mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, and other important people in our lives. In an age when the traditional family is disintegrating, the willingness of people to commit themselves to others is weakening, and cynicism about romance is increasing, letting others know of our regard for them takes on additional importance.

The whole idea of Valentine's Day - showing someone special your love and affection, making another feel wanted and appreciated, expressing deep feelings and gratitude - is lacking from much of modern life. For all our conveniences designed to save us time, we rarely seem able to pause long enough to acknowledge what's really important in our lives - other people. In a strange way, technological advances like television, videos, and computers serve to isolate us in our own little worlds, reducing, not increasing, direct communication with others.

Occasions like this obligate us to interrupt our routine and recognize the complex web of human interaction that feeds and sustains us, the way veins and capillaries nourish the human heart. Failing to acknowledge the joy we receive from others isn't merely an oversight; it's an act of great ingratitude.

For it is love and affection for others that makes civilized life possible. Romantic love creates families; family love creates affection; and affection for fellow men and women sustains civilization. Remove any of these and life becomes barren. As poet Robert Browning said, ``Take away love, and our earth is tomb.''

So this is a chance to take a moment and give flowers to someone special, buy a card for a person you're thinking of, hoist a glass of champagne in affection for a loved one. Whoever they are, they're worth it.