The Smile Stash: Valentine's Day News Edition

It is past midnight. I lay wide awake in bed, trying to not think about all the things that need to get done around the house. I think about the day that just folded. I think about all that I read, shared and experienced today.

Social Media:

Today's social media posts were filled with love- hearts around profile pictures, couples in red, couples in love, babies wrapped in red, valentine DYI projects for kids, last minute pinterest items for special craft and meals for the day.

Indian News:

Certain activists in various Indian cities threatened to forcibly marry any couple that is seen in parks or other public places on Valentine's day. Parks seemed especially deserted because of this threat.
Several schools in the state of UP declared 02/14 as a holiday- to minimize interaction between boys and girls on Valentine's day. It is something they started a couple of years ago and hope to continue in future too. They also encourage (more like warn) kids against meeting friends of opposite sex even when not at school.
A Delhi high court judge ruled out any wrong doing by the employer in the alleged sexual assault case against his 14yr old former employee. The justification was that the stories from the 14yr old girl and her mother were not consistent with each other. Mother's version included that the employer locked the door while assaulting the girl. The girl's version included no locked door. The details on the specific pieces of clothing that were undone during the assault also did not match between the mother's and daughter's version. Clearly it was an open and shut case- the 14yr old must be making all this up. At least the High court judge thought so. Employer was simply on the hook for slapping the girl. High court's verdict was that even that slapping wasn't culpable- anyone can get angry enough to slap a minor girl in the heat of the moment!

US National News:

Another high school shooting. This time in the part of FL that only last year was named the safest county of FL. Almost 20 people died. A suspended kid was annoyed and decided to kill some kids so he could feel better. Prayers, discussions of gun control, wall vs gun control, gun control vs mental health. I am sure the headlines in major newspapers would move on to something else by tomorrow.
Good news, Trump paid the 130K hush money in 2016 from his own pocket and did not misuse party funds. What a relief!

Oregon News:

Several parents barge into a county school board meeting since the district decided to not celebrate valentine's day at school in order to not hurt the sentiments of those that don't wish to celebrate. Parents are enraged that the sentiments of majority are being ignored because of the sensitivity to a select few. Many remark that such anger was never seen from the parent community for the state's appalling high school graduation rates, however.
A grandmother called police after finding out that her grandson planned to use homemade explosives to kill people at his school. Kid is arrested. Grandmother is the true hero, many agreed.

Family News:

Our eight year old came home from school to report an especially mean valentine. The ninja candy she got from this classmate had a special note with her name on the front and something like "You are mean, you are bossy, and you tattletale" on the inside. The card did not say who it was from. She showed it to her teacher who asked her to simply throw it away, and she did. But throwing a card away is a LOT easier than purging the impact from her mind. She is 8 after all, believed every word in that card. She was nearly in tears. We listened to her. We empathized with her- I shared my own experience of a fellow grad student anonymously sending a very mean email. We convinced her that she is not what the mean valentine thinks she is. We told her that she is still the kind, sweet and considerate girl we love to the light years and back. She finished her homework. She handed us the valentines she specially made for us. We had a nice home made dinner. As we were cleaning up the table, she came to me and gave a hug. She thanked me for listening to her experience. She said she is so happy she has us for parents. "People like the Turpins would never listen to their kids' problems"- she heard an age appropriate version of that story recently. She wore her new pajamas she got for V-day and went to bed. I just checked on her. She looks so peaceful!

The people with power in India are doing their best to stop men and women from celebrating Valentine's day- to what end? How do they plan to stop the sexual assaults on minors that occur by the minute? Our daughter has our unconditional love- on Valentine's day and on every day that we breath (and beyond, if that is possible). We will do our best to teach her good from bad. We hope that she understands her social responsibilities when she grows up and turns out to be a kind human-being. If we fail miserably as parents and she turns into a dangerous sociopath, we won't hesitate to do what that Oregon grandmother did today.

The mean 8yr old valentine issue was a piece of cake- we dealt with it and moved on. How about the families of those high school students that lost their lives? How are they going to deal with it? How will they move on? No amount of prayers from us will bring those innocent lives back.