Real Open Talk For Life with WJC

By: Rev. W. Jeffrey Campbell, Houston, TX

Today is Valentine’s Day! This day is filled with cupids, flowers, chocolates, cards, expensive gifts and more. Some people will get engaged on today. Others will actually say their vows today. It is a day that has morphed into a love celebration as well as a money maker for greeting card companies, florists and candy companies. With all of the excitement that this day is wrapped in I would venture to say that for every 4 people who are excited about this day or at the least tolerant of it, there is one person who is not in the least bit excited at all. As a matter of fact I would venture to say that person actually loathes this day.

As I was perusing through the status updates of others on Facebook on yesterday, one of my friends had a bah-humbug moment regarding Valentine’s Day. There were others who chimed in with her and then one individual asked her a rather interesting question, “Are you getting a gift for your BFF?” I found something very rich in that question because it actually mirrors the way that I have chosen to celebrate this day. In the past 10 years or so as I have been constantly working on being a better WJC I have learned how to transform these “Big Days” into whatever I need them to be for me. “What doth thou mean by this?”

This Valentine’s Day I do not have a significant other. However, I have chosen to give some of the special people in my life cards, flowers and gifts to celebrate the love that we share with each other. On my list of recipients include: my daughter, a couple of my BFF who have been on the mountain tops and in the valleys of life with me and one couple who is a model for me of what a same-gender loving relationship should look like. This day I celebrate the love of family and friends as well as the love that my friends who are in relationships are experiencing. Now, don’t get me wrong! I’m hoping that next Valentine’s Day I will be in a love relationship that I will be able to celebrate, but in the meantime I’m not going to stop celebrating love because I’m not in a relationship.

I believe now more than ever that many of us self-mutilate when we are not in relationships. We cut love as if it doesn’t exist simply because we are not coupled up with someone else. Love is everlasting and it should be celebrated! As I have grown I have been able to even celebrate past loves. Hint: just because the relationship ended doesn’t mean that it wasn’t good while it lasted. Remember the good things that you learned from it! Be thankful for those things that you gained! Those moments good and bad were the fertilizer that caused us to grow.



My friends, it is Valentine’s Day, the day of love! Honor and celebrate the loves that you are blessed to have. Most importantly celebrate yourself! Other than God, you ought to be the best lover that you will ever have!

Much Love to You!

Until next week…ROTFL with WJC!

Please contact me at realopentalkforlife@yahoo.com for further discussion.