Valentine’s Day plans you’ll fall for
February 14, 2019
What is love? A question that has universally confused people from the beginning of time. It is not an idea that has a hard-set answer but rather is unique to the individual. Composed by Plato, his explanation for the origin of love is one that not many are aware of.
Long ago, Plato shared the Earth contained three types of human beings. The first of the three were the males, descended from the sun. Next were the females, descended from the Earth itself. Lastly, there were the androgynous people who were of both male and female aspects. In the beginning, every being had four arms, four legs, two heads with two identical faces and four ears to match. We moved both forwards and backwards in cartwheels on our eight limbs similar to the motion of the planets who were our parents. Zeus, who feared we were growing too powerful, split us each into a half of what we were- leading us up to the current point of two arms, two legs, etc. Apollo, the God of light, healed our wounds and pulled the broken skin until we were less deformed. Unfortunately, we were forever separated by that other half of ourselves. This is the origin of love according to the great philosopher, Plato. He believed that in life, we must search for our other halves. When we finally do find it, we are reunited with the part of ourselves we lost long ago.
Plato’s great legend only adds to the holiday that we celebrate known as Valentine’s Day. Though it was set in place to originally celebrate the Roman priest who married people when it was illegal, Plato’s story of love still remains relevant today. Students at Neuqua Valley continue to search for their other halves as well on this holiday. In the search for this other part of themselves, I asked some students questions about this special day:
What are your actual plans for the day?
“Nothing.” – Fen Nyberg
“Hanging out with my best friend eating a heart-shaped pizza.” – Brianne Perkins
“Go to school and have a class. Go to the gym.” – Sofia Khan
“Facetime my girlfriend.” – Jeff Lindstrom
What are some of your favorite Valentine’s Day love songs?
“Comfortable Known by Pink Floyd” – Fen Nyberg
“Any country love song” – Brianne Perkins
“Love Story by Taylor Swift” – Sofia Khan
“International Love by Pitbull” – Jeff Lindstrom
What would be your ideal Valentine’s date?
“A chill dinner.” – Fen Nyberg
“Just no floofy stuff.” – Brianne Perkins
“Go out to dinner on the weekend.” – Sofia Khan
“Take her out to dinner and go get Portillo’s cake shakes after. Give her a present.” – Jeff Lindstrom
