Our local television station has a segment at the end of the news when they let people “talk back” on air. People vent about everything from our incessant potholes to the weathermen’s dogs, which often make an appearance on the weather segment. Recently someone complained about Valentine’s Day. She was sick to death of hearing about it everywhere. She didn’t have someone special, and she hated hearing about others’ presents, cards, romances. By the end of her rant, she was screaming in frustration.

The next night there were all kinds of commentaries, many trying to support this lady, suggesting they would like to buy her flowers and encouraging her to give love to others or maybe to do something special for herself on this day devoted to love. This positive feed-back made me think about my own attitude towards Valentine’s Day. My husband is very good to me on Valentine’s Day, buying flowers and chocolates and giving me a special note. Now that I’m a grandma, I am also lucky enough to get home-made cards from my little darlings.  I reciprocate with gifts or good wishes to my family, and that’s about it.

True confession: I’m a French teacher, and I usually don’t do much for my students on Valentine’s Day; I save the hoopla for Mardi Gras, which is just around the corner. But this year I thought maybe I would do something special with my students for Valentine’s Day, so I searched my wonderful Facebook French Teacher group for inspiration, and I discovered an interesting idea.

It was with a little trepidation Friday that I got scissors and construction paper ready and faced my first class of seventeen-year-olds. They suggested that maybe they should just get the day off because of the holiday. Nope!

“Everyone take a piece of construction paper of your favorite color,” I ordered, “and cut out a big paper heart!”

“How?” they asked.

“You don’t know how to cut out a paper heart?” I demonstrated, folding the paper in half and cutting out a half heart, unfolding it, and voilà! Still there were some pretty shaky hearts.  Apparently in the rush to have children reading by the time they are four and doing calculus by the third grade, the fine art of making paper hearts has been lost.

When everyone had made some facsimile of a heart, I told the students to write their French names in large letters, and then I gave everyone a list with 99 compliments in English and French.

“We (I was including myself in this activity) are now going to pass these Valentines around in an orderly fashion, and we are going to think of a compliment for everyone else and write it in French on their card. Do not get ahead of the class! Stick to the list! Go!”

Everyone got busy, and I hustled to write something nice on every card as it was passed to me in a somewhat orderly fashion, as I also oversaw the entire operation. I glanced at the mostly silent students, their heads bent over their cards, composing their messages: Tu es belle; tu es intelligente; tu as du talent; tu as une influence positive; tu es charmant!  There was a serenity about the room. The positive vibes were tangible.

When they were done, just before the bell rang, the students read what their classmates had written to them.  They laughed and smiled. “This was a great activity!” someone said. “This was humbling, thank you, Mrs. Castro,” said one sweet girl.

At the end of the day, I closed my classroom door and read my paper Valentines with all the pencil-scrawled messages of kindness.  I decided to assume they were all sincere.  I was glad no one was there to witness as tears streamed down my face.  It was the best Valentine’s Day ever!

Thank you for reading, and may you have some lovely words written upon your heart!

Or better yet, may you write some lovely words upon someone else’s heart!