Last Sunday the Italian restaurants were packed with happy couples sharing Cabernet and Lady and the Tramp-sensible bowls of spaghetti.  The stationary stores, bake shops, and florists were bled dry of anything chocolate, red or sentimental.  And, yes, most of you with a special someone had an intimate end to your evenings out.

So you probably weren’t thinking about curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS while you and your soul mate ate chocolate covered strawberries in a hot tub, but it’s not quite as outlandish as you might think.  Two Asian countries did V-Day a bit differently this year.  The Philippines and India used the planet’s Day of Love as an opportunity to get the word out about HIV/AIDS prevention.  Manila’s wholesale flower market handed out government-supplied condoms to each lovesick bouquet buyer.  Despite objections from the country’s religious leaders, the Philippines opted for action.  The bishops of the Southeast Asian archipelago argued –as many abstinence only programs do— that providing protection simply encourages young couples to be promiscuous, thus only increasing HIV/AIDS cases.

But it didn’t stop there!  In Chennai, India single and spoken for citizens of the Southeastern city gathered in the central square to witness a peaceful demonstration of HIV-positive couples.  The straightforward display intended to show the world that life does not change after infection, that those living “positive” still maintain meaningful relationships. The demonstrators expressed a hope that their courage would make it easier for others to speak openly about being AIDS affected.

I was fascinated by these proactive approaches to the ever-romantic holiday. But are we getting too serious? While the love you take was equal to the love you made in the sixties, maybe our generation ought to start rewriting love.

What do you think, readers?  Should millennium love come with responsibility, or should we just keep on with the full body massages and pillow talk?

This is a guest blog post by Kate O’Connor Morris

Kate O’Connor Morris is a writer, editor, and expert cheese-eater working out of her hometown Brooklyn.  Aside from her time taken up by cheese endeavors, Kate enjoys wandering the streets of New York with a beat-up notebook.  Kate became invested in HIV prevention while working at Brooklyn’s Legal Aid Society.  Her great influences are Meat Cat, Bernie the harbor seal, and boarding trains headed in the complete wrong direction.