A non-conventional Valentine's

It's no mystery that due to the globalized economy, Valentine's Day has become a holiday that revolves around gifts, gifts and more gifts. Instead of celebrating love, the act of loving and friendship, people focus more on what they do and do not receive on that day. Working with teenagers and having been one not so long ago, I know that at their age, reciprocal and romantic love means the world and maybe not to all but for a majority having that "crush" notice you and care for you on this special holiday is a pretty big deal. Also, material things have a heavy toll on them as well. That is why I decided to celebrate a more "unconventional" Valentine's.


The door of the classroom was decorated with a recreation of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" (a little extra something was added in the corner). At first instance you might look at it and think: What does this have to do with love? It doesn't. Well... not exactly. You see, Van Gogh loved three things very much: The color blue, the color yellow and the stars. His love for all of these elements is transmited in this very special piece. When recreating it, I transmitted in it my love for Van Gogh and my love towards art so in end, all of the elements of this creation are traced back to love. Do the students know that? No, but that is why at the bottom of the picture there is a quote by the wonderful Van Gogh, himself. It reads:

“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, 

and whosoever loves much performs much, 

and can accomplish much, 

and what is done in love is done well.”

-Vincent Van Gogh

My purpose, by exposing the students to Van Gogh and his beautiful mind is to bring another perspective into what is the celebration of love. I don't want these young minds to succumb to the negatives of societies or to limit themselves in seeing love from only one perspective.

Van Gogh saw something in life that I often forget to see myself and that is that everything we do with love will have some kind of success. I can apply this to my life as teacher candidate but I can also help the students use this little life-hack themselves. I want them to know that to be able to love others and the world, they must start by loving, respecting and appreciating the person they are, only then will they be able to spread love and to put some kind of loving in everything they do in life. 

And maybe a door may not be enough to change a student's perspective, but I believe it is enough to give them a broader vision of what love is and the importance it has in everything we do in life. I believe it might be a way to start a social transformation within the classroom. 

So no, I will not have a pink and red Valentine's Day. I want my students to focus on what really matters, even though some chocolates wouldn't hurt.