Deeds of Love

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. —Albert Einstein

All it takes is a sim­ple run to the gro­cery store or phar­macy to be reminded that Valentine’s Day is here. Hearts galore every­where! It’s hard to miss the shiny helium bal­loons, red roses, chocolate-covered con­fec­tions, and last-minute “forget-me-nots” by the check­out counter.

As a soci­ety, we’ve learned that giv­ing a “lit­tle some­thing” is an accept­able, often­times even expected way to express grat­i­tude, love, and affec­tion. Tokens of appre­ci­a­tion here and there are surely nice; even nicer, are con­scious acts of kind­ness, deeds of love, with rip­ple effects far beyond our imme­di­ate cir­cle of influence.

The edi­to­r­ial lineup for Feb­ru­ary will help you think out of the (choco­late) box this Valentine’s Day and presents some sug­ges­tions for you to engage with your loved ones in mean­ing­ful and impor­tant causes:

Love our com­mu­nity: Make sure you get counted in the 2010 Cen­sus to ensure our state and local com­mu­ni­ties receive their fair share of fed­eral fund­ing for pro­grams, ser­vices and infra­struc­ture we all rely on. “Strength in Num­bers” presents an overview of what’s at stake in the decen­nial cen­sus, how it impacts our daily lives, and why we should all get involved. It’s our civic duty.

On the sub­ject of civics, the Edu­ca­tion sec­tion focuses on char­ac­ter edu­ca­tion and the Char­ac­ter Counts! ini­tia­tive in Ari­zona schools. This is not just child’s play – at home and at work, we can all model the six pil­lars of good char­ac­ter: Trust­wor­thi­ness, Respect, Respon­si­bil­ity, Fair­ness, Car­ing, and Citizenship.

Love your heart: Feb­ru­ary is Heart Health Month. The Amer­i­can Heart Asso­ci­a­tion reminds us that heart dis­ease and stroke are the top killers of His­pan­ics in the nation. Get informed; reduce your risk of heart dis­ease. Make it a fam­ily affair and sup­port car­dio­vas­cu­lar research by par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Phoenix Heart Walk on Feb­ru­ary 27 at Tempe Beach Park. In our sports and fit­ness sec­tion, Time Out, you’ll also find tips for mak­ing the most of your fit­ness walk­ing rou­tine, a good work­out for your corazón.

Love advice: Pocho Keen on mas­ter­ing the teach­ings of “The Most Inter­est­ing Man in the World,” and some max­ims for gen­tle­men to live by, like this one: “Find out what it is in life that you don’t do well, and then, don’t do that thing,” he adds, “espe­cially not in front of women.”

Love at work: On the joys and chal­lenges of oper­at­ing a busi­ness with a bet­ter half. Rosa Cays zooms in on entre­pre­neur­ial cou­ples Ray and Ernestina Arvizu, and Rodolfo and Patri­cia Madero. These cou­ples, as life and busi­ness part­ners, sound off on what it takes for love at work, to work.

Cheers.