While visiting the Atlanta Historical Society once years ago, I saw a display about the role of black people in the civil war. It cited a story about a black slave who, upon finding the body of his master, who was also his friend, on the battlefield at the 2 nd battle of Manaases, took the sword and the jacket and walked 700 miles back to their home in Georgia to return them to the family. Often people are apathetic or even critical of the needy. But this unnamed black man, in contrast to the backdrop of the civil war and the racial inequalities of the times, walked 700 miles for his deceased friend and the family. If all of us, of every race and culture and walk of life, could show this kind of undying love, the world would be a better place for all to live, and certainly a better place to raise our children.
True love can overcome racial barriers.
True love is multi cultural. This is the giving and forgiving sacrificial love that Jesus showed on Calvary s cross when he died, not for a friend or for good folks, but for sinners, you and I. This is Christian love at it s best. So, while I have not found the original Saint Valentine I set out to find, I have, I believe, researched true love to its origins and definition.