This Valentine's Day, Let's All Get Together and Make Love

Like most Americans I have been horrified by the devastation in Haiti - and deeply moved by the waves of humanitarian compassion, a significant portion inspired by celebrities like my friend Alyssa Milano who challenged corporations to match her generous donation of $50,000.

These are difficult times for many people financially and yet many are finding a way to participate by texting ten dollar donations through the Red Cross, Yele and other charities offering immediate, desperately needed aid.

 

Sadly, according to reports from Haiti, the state of emergency is long from over - and, in the words of a newly arrived humanitarian volunteer, recovery will not be a sprint but a marathon.

 

Last night I made a donation while watching CNN. A young girl had been trapped between two massive sheets of collapsed cement. She was terrified and the rescue workers kept her spirits high as they labored to free her, which they eventually did. Overcrowded conditions and the general mayhem of disaster complicated her delivery to a hospital and, by the time rescuers finally got her to a doctor the young girl had died.

 

My heart ached for this child - and it broke for her injured mother who was too weak to be told the news just yet.  I thought of my mother, my nieces, my beautiful girlfriend Meg and our dog Boo. I felt my heart swell to the point of bursting because all of the beautiful ladies in my life were healthy and out of harm's way tonight.

 

And that's when the ache in my heart became an idea.

 

Valentine's Day is approaching - a day reserved for couples to celebrate their love for one another by giving flowers, candy, sharing a romantic dinner, exchanging gifts or spending a night in some cozy out of the way hotel.   I am suggesting we dedicate Valentine's Day to those men and women who lost the love of their lives this week - or, right this moment, await news regarding a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend or child.

 

I'm not talking about romance - I'm talking about love.

 

And I'm talking about money. The money you'd spend on the flowers, the candy, the dinner, the cozy out of the way hotel. That money.

 

Ladies, take your boyfriend or husband by the hand and tell him that instead of roses, candy and dinner, you prefer to celebrate the miracle of love this year by giving - together, as a couple.

 

Let's unite our hearts - right now, today - and offer a piece of the love in our own lives to those who need it desperately.   Gay, straight, Republican, Democrat, high school sweethearts, elderly and middle-aged couples alike - let's celebrate this Valentine's Day early by making love now.

 

Ladies, you know that this will be a lot easier if it comes from you, not us. Let your man know you'd like to donate the money you'd spend on indulging romance - and offer it together as a gesture of gratefulness for your good fortune - and in the name of those who suffer alone in misery.