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Editorial:

Flowers or chocolates?

 

On February 14th we celebrate Valentine’s Day. I think that Saint Valentine is not only the patron saint of lovers, but also of friends. Because in the Hanseatic cities z. For example, the guilds met for a friendship meal on Valentine’s Day. A praise not only for love, but also for friendship.

 

„What I missed the most during the Corona period is being with friends“. I have heard and hear this sentence often. And yes – I felt the same way. „I hardly have any girlfriends anymore, they’re all dying off,“ said an elderly parishioner. Yes – and sometimes friends die very young, I think. In my mind I see one of my friends who died very young after a serious illness. Sometimes I talk to her in my head or I say: „Now I would be happy for an advice from you“. We not only attach our hearts to our loved ones, but also to friends.

 

The preciousness of a friendship
“A friend, a good friend – that’s the best thing in the world”. These are well-known song lines that Werner Richard Heymann wrote in 1930 for a sound film operetta entitled „Die Drei von der gas station“. The song became particularly well-known through the interpretation of the Berlin vocal ensemble «Comedian Harmonists» (1928 to 1935).
The writer of the Old Testament book Jesus Sirach knew how valuable friendships can be when he wrote:

A faithful friend is a strong protection, whoever finds him
has found a treasure.
Sir 6:14

Some might want to disagree now and say: But friends can also disappoint you. Yes – that is also possible, because where there is light, there is also shadow.

 

Bonded in friendship
Friendships can last for years and it is often not the case that friends* have to see each other regularly and at short intervals. There are friendships that have lasted for decades. You don’t see each other often. But when you meet, it’s like you just met yesterday
. You pick up the thread of friendship as if it were just yesterday that you held it in your hands. There is a closeness that has not been lost.

 

Don’t get lost with each other
There is a sentence by Ernst Bloch that Dorothee Sölle quotes in one of her poems:

We don’t get lost.

This sentence sounds like eternity, beyond, when we are no longer here. It’s kind of a promise. I like this sentence. It’s nice to think that we humans don’t get lost. And maybe that is exactly this deep reason why we give flowers or chocolates on Valentine’s Day or celebrate this day: Not getting lost to each other.

 

Regina Osterwalder