Please click the landscape photo above to hear a brief song "Vignette No. 25," composed by the author for wooden flute and Celtic harp. 

I come full circle and return to the image of Woman and Man that began this collection. 

We are told that before the rise of male dominated authoritarian states, sexism was not much an issue. If my memory of Greek mythology is correct the earliest god was Earth, Woman, who then gave birth to Man, later came the Titans, the Olympians, and the rest. It appears this traces the evolution of Greek culture from an egalitarian agricultural politic to a warlike class society, with kings seeking lands, conquests, and slaves.

The Chinese remained frank, at least some, in seeing yin and yang , woman and man, as equal tendencies in nature. A hint of a world divided into the male and female persists in many in European languages, with male and female nouns, and no apparent bias toward either. 

Organized states and military conscription and the attendant glorification of male bonding was Natural Man's downfall, and with that fall Natural Woman was pulled down even farther. The Persians went among the worst, with their religion teaching that Woman is inherently evil. What better way to keep armies of men happy with just other's company? This sickness spread through the Mideast and infected the Judeo-Christian tradition as well. Poor Eve! Poor us!

If we still had natural values, Valentine's Day would be a national holiday  everywhere, in the United States every bit the equal of Christmas, Easter and The Fourth of July. No, not just equal: first among equals, throughout the world, in every culture.

Let love, not power, be our common creed. Only then may humanity emerge from this long and sinister night. 

If we are really serious about realizing our humanity we'll make it "Valentine's Day Every Day," with each hug and kiss a sacred communion, and every heart that breaks, ours or another's, a cause for mourning. 

Let the tombstones of every lost love stand as cold reminders we must cherish whatever love we find, or dream of yet finding.