Let's NOT Talk About Love, Baby

I think there is some sort of secret code that says you must write something or other about love on Valentine's Day. But I don't think that I should have to adhere to this code. I think I'm going to be a trailblazer. I'm going to avoid talking about love today. Trust me, I will not talk about love today.

Why talk about love on Valentine's Day when this is the one year anniversary of the event that led to Syria's being kicked out of Lebanon: the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri? Flower shops and stores having Valentine's Day sales were going to be closed today in Beirut, or so I read in the news. So see, people there aren't talking so much about Valentines or love.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job not focusing on love in this entry; note that there is a picture of a Coca-Cola can in Arabic included at the top of this entry and from a different angle below; this was taken at a restaurant afrer having seen a set of pyramids in Egypt. Coke cans in Arabic have very little to do with love, and so it is a safe bet to say that looking at this Coke can will not make anyone think of love.

I'm doing a pretty good job, aren't I, avoiding discussing love this Valentine's Day? Ho ho, if you think that just because Israel is the Jewish state they don't celebrate St. Valentine's Day, you would be mistaken. In fact, I've seen so many cutesy-wootsy bears with "love" in Hebrew, candy sales, and of course "couples deals for Love Day" that, well, you kind of have a hard time forgetting that February 14 is Valentine's Day. Even in Israel.

It really is amazing. Hearts are everywhere. Sales. Candy stands set up in the Azrieli mall in Tel Aviv just for V-Day sales. Tomorrow, they will be gone. Israel already has a love day, according to the Hebrew calendar. It's in the fall.

So, as you can see, I've managed to avoid mentioning love, except for maybe the bunch of times that the word "love" appeared in all of the above sentences. Whoopsy-daisy. Good thing I didn't ask you to "Trust me, I will not talk about love today." Oh wait a minute.

I did.

Ah well.

You can trust me on that Coke can in the pictures. That can has nothing to do with love whatsoever. Canning practices in the Arab Republic of Egypt, maybe. But not love. Except for the fact that the pictures were taken on a trip with family members that I love. Damn! Okay, okay, so it's not the Coke can itself, just the pictures...what a slippery slope this is...