Valentine’s Day is coming soon. February 14th is a day for romance and love. It was in the mid-1700s that friends and lovers began to exchange handwritten notes and small tokens of affection. One of the reasons for choosing February 14th was the lore in England and France that birds’ mating season began, thus a time for love. Also, the Christian feast day of Saint Valentine had been observed on February 14th since 496 AD.
In a 1375 poem, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s, when every foul cometh then to choose his mate.” The oldest known Valentine’s Day love note is from Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. “My very gentle Valentine, since for me you were born too soon, and I for you was born too late, God forgives him who has estranged me from you for the whole year, I am already sick of love, my very gentle Valentine.”
The Bible has a lot to say about the importance of love in all relationships. St. Peter wrote, “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. . . . For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind.” (2 Peter 1:5-9) Thus establishing a connection between lack of love and being nearsighted.
The word Peter used, translated as “nearsighted,” is muopazo, meaning cannot see far off. Obviously, he used the word in a figurative sense. Muopia is derived from muo, meaning to shut or close, and ops, meaning eye. So, in English the word myopia means nearsighted, not able to see objects that are far away. The usage dates from 1654 to describe how human eyesight blurs when visual images come into focus in front of the retina.
Eventually myopia was used figuratively to mean lacking in foresight or discernment, having a narrow perspective without concern for broader implications. It came to mean one who only thinks or cares about things that are immediate issues or one-issue interest groups, with little regard for future implications. That is the sense St. Peter uses the term to describe those who say or do things without love.
Many of us are suffering from myopia when it comes to the discussions about COVID19 mandates and restrictions. It seems to me that certain government officials seem to be myopic with this issue. Statements are made that seem to lack foresight in dealing with pandemics in general. One suffers from myopia when policies are developed to deal with the current situation only rather than also addressing the care plans and hospitalisation strategies for the future. We know that pandemics will likely happen again, and current statements and actions seem to have such a narrow perspective. Myopic words and activities indicate a lack of love, the kind of love St. Peter referred to, love for love’s sake. Myopia often includes self-love and love for those who agree with me but neglects a love for all, even those who embrace different opinions. We are myopic when support is given to “one issue” candidates in elections. People are myopic when word and actions are intensely focused on “my rights” with little concern for broader implications, and the rights of others.
I believe it would be beneficial for us to rethink our conversations and actions about COVID19 on this coming Valentine’s Day. Let’s have more moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, piety, brotherly love, and agape love, love for love’s sake. As Peter reminds us, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind.” Eyeglasses can correct medical myopia. Let us consider love to help correct social myopia. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13)
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and writes this weekly Word Wisdom column for Moose Jaw Express/MooseJawToday.com. He has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com . Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
