DIANA MAHABIR-WYATT

Many centuries ago, there was a celebration observed throughout Celtic Europe called Beltane, held in spring, with big bonfires built on hills, celebrating the end of winter’s freezing temperatures, confinement and liberation brought by the coming of spring, bringing forth May flowers. It was a licence for joy, a time when a young man’s fancy turned to thoughts of love.

And tradition had it, indulgence in sex was freely granted, with no stigma attached to the infants who resulted, called Beltane-got.

As no one could be quite sure in those days, months after the event, who the father was, the child just became a part of the family into which he or she was born, increasing the tribe and therefore their numbers, which, in the economies of those far-off days, was welcomed.

St Valentine had not been born then, but things changed culturally hereafter with the concept of romantic love.

As time went on, the Greek culture evolved as one most articulate to explain the importance and the power of emotion.

Greeks chose the medium of art – attracting people through dance, song, poetry, sculpture, architecture and drama – much of it lost to us now as subsequent military action wiped out those values, replacing them with a focus on power and control gained through finance, politics and status, within commercial and religious organisations.

St Valentine, born in 200 AD or so, was beheaded, possibly in 240 AD, for sympathies unapproved by politicians, now celebrated on his special day.

The Greeks, experts at emotional discernment, did not make the mistakes that are so frequent now, as management is defining normal stages of emotional growth as mental illness.

Much of the disciplinary grievance-handling people experience at work is tracked initially through dysfunctional family relationships, currently seen to result in dysfunctional relationships or attitudes inappropriate at work.

Interpersonal attraction is seen as indiscipline and can result in disciplinary action, particularly at an executive level in multinational firms, causing sensational headlines in the American press.

I spoke today with a retired employee of BWIA, who described nostalgically the family-type bonding BWIA employees enjoyed, asking if I knew of any other company in TT where employees enjoyed that biblical

philia as much as they did: years after BWIA’s closure, birthday cards are exchanged, annual get-togethers continue, deaths of former co-workers are shared and mourned, and one former BWIA staffer, seeing another across a crowded bank, will exchange greetings and "ole talk," reliving what they now realise were some of the best days of their lives. Organisational pragma is rare and precious.

The ancient Greeks noted six different emotional categories that affect our lives, all of which are relevant to the topic, and it is true that people often marry someone they meet at or work with, which is true of people in many employment situations and of many during mid-life crises as well (break-up and remarriage peaks ar