Funny Valentines or Kind Friendliness?

 

"Kindness means so much, both for the one who shows it and for the one who receives it."

This week is in Sweden called "Vänliga veckan" which means the friendly and kind week .In Swedish "vän" is a noun meaning friend as well as an adjective meaning " amiable, delightful, nice, delicate" and "vänlig" is the adverb of the noun which means both friendly and kind. This week is now dwindling due to the much more commercial American celebration of St. Valentine's Day. However, when a Swedish magazine started this week in 1946 they used the 14th of February which in Sweden is called All Hearts' Day, thus it has had none of the stressful connotations of popularity among teenagers as it had in other countries, hence schools usually encourage the "Vänliga veckan". 

The kind and friendly week of 2023 has the theme. "Show kindness to those who don't expect it." This Sunday is the last day to celebrate this week, nevertheless the intention of the week is of course to inspire to kindness all through the year. There are so many good ways of doing this nowadays, one of the perks of social media: send a DM, buy flowers, phone calls (my toughest challenge), a post card, a letter, an E-mail and being extra kind and attentive to others. This week the earth quakes in Syria and Türkiye has of course been an obvious way of being kind by donations. 

This week is a favourite of mine and I would like to promote it much more than the , for so many, painful St.Valentine's Day. An easy way of keeping this week is to smile whenever you meet someone wherever you are. For Swedes it feels awkward greeting strangers on a city street even with a smile,  but in a forest or village a greeting is the natural way of meeting anyone. So just smile in a city this week,  and do as usual on the country side. I guess this is also applicable in other countries with huge cities, even in cities like Cebu, with millions of tired people rushing from jobs to homes, and vice versa, a smile is never wrong. 

And in case you didn't get a greeting this week neither the 14th or any other day, remember you are so dearly loved by God, that is the truth every day, night and all weeks.