Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Perhaps this should have been written a few days earlier, but getting caught up in too many things at the same time has been a problem lately.
Valentine’s Day has made me think about the word “femininity” since it translates, in my mind at least, to the love we have for each other, especially, due to the creators of the cards, for the love of a gentleman for a lady.
Did you know that when Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from Feb. 15 to Feb. 14. Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared Feb. 14 as St. Valentine’s Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to end the pagan celebration. For those that do not know about Lupercalia, it was an ancient Roman festival celebrated Feb. 15 to ensure fertility for the people, fields and flocks.
In the book, “Every Hour Counts,” (page 328) the story of when commercial cards started for the holiday is explained to us that Louis Prayg, from Germany, started a small lithograph business in 1856 in Boston, then George Whitney started George C. Whitney Valentine Manufacturing Company… then on and on from there to today’s extremism in valentine card manufacturing.
Getting back to “femininity.” Checking the dictionary, one of the definitions of feminine is “Belonging to the female gender.” Under femininity, we discover, “The quality or state of being feminine.”
Soon, with the push of feminism, no doubt the dictionary will have a different definition. After all, it would be necessary, since we now have females who what to be males, males who want to be females, and a variety of “in-betweens” moving into the spotlight of human deprivation, plus the long sought after “women’s rule” no longer deferring to the masculine gender for direction or protection.
I remember when it was nice to come home to my wife, my home; that tiny kingdom that belonged to my family and me. After putting up with the world, or at least my area of the world and its problems, it was a relief when my house would come into view. Today there is no safe-house where a man can escape from the deprivation that exits in our midst.
Let’s take a deep breath, step back in time, and be sure that what we have gained is not a lot less than what we have lost.