By Stowell P. Watters
Staff Writer
    While we older and knowledgeable working-class adults know everything about love and the origin of Valentine’s Day, sometimes we like to see what other people think and how they feel about the hearty holiday. In the spirit of vigilant and serious investigative journalism, The Post recently coordinated with a few Kennebunk Elementary School students to get their take on the biggest card-sending holiday in the world and, in doing so, learned a little bit about love.
    The interviewees were first-graders Cameron Munro and Cammie Small and kindergarteners Benson Furber and Phillip Rossborough. Together they made up the knowledgeable team and, once sequestered in a special meeting room near Principal Sara Zito’s office, spilled the beans on Valentine’s Day.
    The session began with a history lesson from Small.
    “Valentine was a priest who would marry people who loved each other, but the emperor didn’t want him to so he was killed,” she said.
    “Yeah, and there is more,” chimed Benson. “The emperor said that married people made bad soldiers and this was in a big war and they needed to fight and not love.”
    The two were spot on. One legend holds Valentine to be a priest who served during Rome’s third century – under Emperor Claudius II. Claudius decided single men fought better and so he outlawed marriage among soldiers. Valentine defied the emperor and began marrying couples in secret. Once found, he was put to death for his actions. This information and a history of other possible roots for the Feb. 14 holiday can be found at www.history.com/minisites/valentine.
    Love itself was highlighted by the crew as being the sole reason for the season. Chocolates, cards and hugs are all ways of showing this to a friend or a family member.
    “Valentines is a day all about love and you can tell people you care about that you think they are really special,” Small said.
    At this, Munro spoke up.
    “I give cards to so many people, especially members of my family,” he said.
    Munro also said he receives cards every year and, although they are important, the best part about Valentine’s Day is the candy. At the mention of the “c-word” the students’ eyes widened.
    “Candy!” they said in unison.
    “The heart candies mean that you like someone or someone likes you,” Rossborough said of the sugary hearts with messages such as “BE MINE,” or “YOURS TRULY” on them.
    “My mom gets a chocolate heart for my dad every year and he eats it really fast,” Munro said.
    The students went on to verify that everyone, young and old, had to have a favorite candy. Furber likes chocolate racecars and Small likes red M&Ms, while Rossborough likes root beer-bottle shaped chocolate and Munro favors Irish milk-chocolate – both because it is “smooth, and [he] is Irish.”
    When asked what other items are passed out on the holiday students said special Valentine’s Day cards – which can be called simply “Valentines,” or sometimes “Valentimes” – are handed out en masse. Students make cereal-box cardholders at Kennebunk Elementary School and on the special day students go around placing the Valentines in the boxes of their classmates.
    Furber said one year he received a Valentine’s Day gift that trumped them all.
    “I got a dart shooter that you can shoot at a special target and you get points for where you hit,” he said.
    Small said she looks to the famous couple – Mickey and Minnie Mouse – to provide the archetypal example of true love, but also said her parents were a “really good example too.”
    “I have a picture of my mom and dad getting married and my mom is wearing a really pretty white, sparkly dress with white high heels on. She looks so beautiful because she is in love,” Small said.
    Munro said love does not stop at family and that he loves animals and his friends too. He also said his mom watches love story movies but he finds them too boring to pay attention to, and would rather spend his time with his Webkinz – real stuffed animals who can socialize and receive upgrades online. The group chimed in and, between all of them, said they owned about 30 of the toys. Rossborough said the Webkinz can receive electronic Valentines this time of year.
    Finally the group began to talk about the curly-hair cherub named Cupid. His role, Munro said, is integral to the holiday.
    “Cupid is the god of love and he shoots arrows with heart-tips from his bow,” Munro said.
    When asked what the arrows do once they pierce the heart of a mortal, Furber was certain – to an extent.
    “They definitely make you love stuff, or they make people love you, something like that I think,” he said.
    To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.