A Valentine’s Day letter from my assistant

many kids I had in my class, I handed her a sheet of paper that was

given out to all of the kids and we went down to Thrifty's and got two

packages of valentines day cards, enough for every child in my class.

The cards were all the same size and all said basically the same thing.

When I got to school, each child had a small box on their desk. Then at

some point during the day, I would go around the class and give each

child a card. And I mean each child; the quiet one in the back, the most

popular girl in class, the prettiest girl, and honestly even the boys as

well. This was way before society had taught me that such a showing of

affection had to exclude the half of the world who are the same gender

as I. And by the end of the day, we all had a full box of valentines to

take home with us.

But then as I got older, society taught me that I would further narrow

my offerings of affection, picking only those that I choose to be

special or worthy. Eventually, I was taught to limit it to only one

person. And that card that I gave out as a child was no longer

sufficient. The cards were bigger now, they all said different things

and I was supposed to categorize my feeling for this person and pick

just the right card that said just the right thing.

More time went on, and the cards still got bigger and cards were not

enough, to show that really really special person what they meant to

you, you needed to send flowers and candy and jewelry. Apparently, as we

grew, our boxes got bigger and it took more and more to fill those

boxes. And now we absolutely could not give more then one card; people

hire detectives to make sure that the person who is supposed to be

filling their box is not buying a package of cards. And if you didn't

have someone sending you stuff you are saddened by your big empty box

and people filled those empty boxes with sadness and despair.

This morning I am sitting at my virtual desk where I have a virtual box

on it, and I am taking back from society what it has taken from me. I am

counting how many people play a role in my life, and I am buying my

virtual packages of cards. And I have one for every single one of you.

Man or woman, young or old, straight or gay, married or single. And they

are all the same size and they all say the same thing and I am going to

every box and placing a card into it.

And the virtual boxes are all the same size and the virtual desks are

all the same and I invite each and every one of you to do the same so

that no box is empty and that the shy ones and the pretty ones and the

popular ones and everyone goes home tonight with a full box of valentines.