Love is a Disease!

I occasionally read other blogs. There is a vast group of "mommy bloggers" out there: women who write about their families, kids, difficulties of being a mom, etc. One of them, a while back, started a movement called Love Thursday. The whole point of LT is to post something on Thursdays that represents love. Many of the mommy bloggers have picked it up.

So, without further adieu, here is my contribution to Love Thursday:

Love is nothing more than an addiction. At least according to the Today Show. There is a radio station in Miami that just broadcasts NBC all day long. It's great for listening to news and weather or for catching the start of a show if you are getting home late. Sometimes, on the way to work in the mornings, I listen to the Today Show to catch news and weather forecasts. During today's drive, I heard a segment that is part of a series Today is doing on love. One of the "experts" Today had essentially said love is equivalent to cocaine addiction.

According to this expert, the brain's chemical reactions associated with love mimic those of a cocaine high. The expert later when on to say that the brain's "love" chemicals act like any number of addictions.

In today's world where alcoholism and drug addiction are treated as diseases, Love should be a legitimate disability. I shouldn't have to go to work because I am "in love." There should be support groups for Lovers Anonymous. 12 steps to being love free.

I have always believed that love more than an emotional feel, and now I believe it is more than a chemical reaction. In the story, the the expert distinguishes between love and lust stating that different areas of the brain are involved in the two feelings.

True love is not a mechanical response to a chemical stimulus. Even though they distinguished between love and lust, I have a feeling what they measures was what we would call infatuation. There is an emotional response to love. It does make you feel good. A body may react to it in many ways. But true love goes beyone scientific measurement. No scientific instrument can measure the level of sacrifice that a committed husband or wife is willing to give for their spouse. That deep sense of commitment and devotion to another person cannot be sampled. True love, Biblical love, is far more complex than the human brain. When we equate love to an addiction or a chemical equation, we cheapen it. We show our lack of understanding of what love is really all about.

I am fortunate that I have found something more than a simple chemical in my brain. I hope you have found it too.

Bold Predictions

Well, as I reviewed my last post before I went AWOL, I realized I had made very prescient observation:

"Probably won't save Larry Coker's job, but now he has a job for another month or so."

As it turns out, he was fired the very next morning. I found out by way of a text message from Robert, about the only guy who will discuss college football with me on a regular basis. On the one hand, I hated to see Coker guy. I thought he was good for the program as far as academics and character go. But I began to see things in games this year that just left me no confidence in him. Obviously the administration felt the same way.

I was pleased with the Randy Shannon hire. My first choice was Greg Schianno. Good for him if he wants to stay at Rutgers and build a program. But I will be upset if he ends up at another major college in the next couple of years. Miami needed to get this guy. But I think Shannon will do fine. I was impressed with his recruiting class. I'm not normally a recruiting junkie. I don't pay attention to it and I don't think you can judge the quality of a class until they leave the school. But the thing I like is Shannon competed against some guys and won. He was able to sign Robert Marve out of Tampa even though the kid had commited to Alabama and was being re-recruited by Nick Saban. I was also impressed that Shannon got some big name kids to sing on signing day that other big schools really wanted. It seems Shannon is already turning things around. I hope he does.

On a side note, I saw him jogging near the house the other day. That now brings the total number of coaches I have seen jogging to two. I saw Urban Meyer jogging across campus last year while I lived in Gainesville.

On another note, I have been rolling a post around in my mind about the recent push to require young girls to get the HPV vaccination. Part of my rant was going to be about how Merck was behind this and it really did not have anything to do with public health, but rather the health of Merck's bottom line. Well, now it's too later. Merck announced that it is no longer going to openly lobby for these requirements. Of course, that does not mean they won't go through back channels. They beat me to the punch and now I won't look so smart. I think I will still give my thoughts on the issue later on because the states have not necessarily given up the push even though Merck is not showering them with cash any more.

I hope to keep providing you wise predictions of the future like these I have mentioned. Right now, I predict that it is time to go home and I will write again later.

Time to Catch Up

Well, I said I would get back to writing more often, then I went silent for nearly three months. I did not realize it had been so long. Of course, the last post was right before Thanksgiving which was right before I started a new job and, whoosh, it's now three months later. That's right. I have a job. I've been sworn into the Florida bar and I am actually practicing law. I'm enjoying it so far. There are things I want to improve, but I feel like it has gone well so far. I hope to post on a much more regular basis, but I won't get into anything substantive until the next post.