The world is full of flowers, in every shape and color imaginable — some so delicate you fear to touch them. And yet, on Valentine's Day, it is the rose that wins every time. Why?
Start with the color. Dark red looks like blood, and every true lover would give theirs for the one they love. Love lives in the heart, and the heart pumps blood — so red, quite naturally, has come to mean love.
I keep the thorns; I give you the flower.
Then there's the rose itself. It has thorns — but they sit low on the stem, below the soft petals. The flower represents life beautifully this way: soft petals for the gentle side of living, thorns to remind us life isn't only ease. A true lover holds the thorns and hands over only the soft bloom. That is what love does — it keeps the difficulty for itself and gives comfort to the one it's given to.
That's the quiet message behind every rose handed over on Valentine's Day: I've kept the thorns for myself, and I'm giving you only the soft flower. Life is no life without love — and love says so, one rose at a time.
