In God We Trust

The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours, including five who were killed Thursday in a single roadside bombing.




This brings the US death toll in Iraq very close to the 3,500 mark.

Don’t feel too bad though. As you can plainly see from this 60 Minutes clip that aired last Sunday, these young lives are not being thrown away for nothing.

Cheating

Do men or women cheat more often, and who is better at it?




Men are not saints by any means. They often will cheat on their significant other. It is accurate to say that even the nicest men are sometimes dogs.

Polls are taken every year on the subject of infidelity, but it often seems that men are expected to cheat on their partner nearly 50% more than women.

However, I believe that women are much better liars. I have often been amazed how well a woman can lie to you while she broadly smiles and tell you that she is not.

I can say that I have still not cheated on a girlfriend. However, I have come extremely close on a few occasions. The closest I ever came to weakening was in my second year of college.

In my sophomore year, I had started dating a girl who I will call Jane. She and I had seen each other on the very first day of school (orientation), but had not been able to find one another in our freshman year for various reasons. We talked a few times over the summer, and finally began dating in the first week of the second year. A few months in, and were beginning to become exceedingly important to each other.

Also attending my University was this beautiful girl named Lori. She had been a very good friend to me for over a year. We had lightly flirted a few times in that first year, but nothing had ever come of it. Now that I was no longer single, I must have become more appealing to her.

One night I was hanging out with her in her dorm room. This was not unusual, since I had done so many times in an innocent manner. That night, I am sure that I had smoked a little pot (also not unusual for me at that time), and I was getting fairly sleepy. As fate would have it, I was on her bed. I slipped off for a minute or two, and when I opened my eyes the lights were dimmed and I felt this girl slip quietly into bed with me.

Did I mention that this girl was really beautiful?

She snuggled in next to me, and within a few seconds I found her eyes and lips within inches of mine. I had imagined this many times the previous year, and here was my chance. I would be lying if I said that I was not tempted.

Did I mention that this girl was really very beautiful?

There was one major problem though. The girl I was seeing at the time (Jane) meant a great deal to me. Even though we had not progressed to the stage of love yet, I cared very deeply for her. With this in mind, I sat up in the bed and politely left the room. The fact that I was able to do this, still surprises me to this day.

On the way down the stairwell of my dorm room, I ran into Jane. It turns out that she had been on her way upstairs to see if I was with Lori in her room. I did not know it at the time, but her fears were not reassured by seeing me just then. Jane still had it in her head that something had indeed happened with Lori that night.

The following weekend, unbeknownst to me, Jane went home and slept with her ex boyfriend for revenge.

There is no moral to this story. Sometimes making what you think is the right decision does not always work out in the end. I guess you can only do what you think is right, and hope that karma treats you well.

Love me ... or else.

In the year 1964, the Beatles released their sixth British single entitled "Can't Buy Me Love". Fittingly enough, the song found on the B-side was "You Can't Do That". Obviously the Beatles were trying to say that money does not make someone really love you. It might help certain situations or buy many things, but it will never buy what was meant to be free.

Often when I think of the word "free", I also think of "free will".

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines "free will" as 1) A voluntary choice or decision ... or 2) Freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.

Does that intervention always have to be divine? No it does not. Throughout time, and often in political situations, we see other types of "intervention" that influences major decisions. Often that "intervention" comes in the form of a threat.

What happens when that "intervention" or threat entwines itself with the emotions and experience of "love"? Can we threaten someone into loving us? Can we use threats to get what we want from a relationship? If we do, will that person love us more of less?

Here is a true story:

One of my good friends was dating a woman for a little over a year, and they had just started to live together. At some point she came to him and said that she wanted to get married. He had a good job, but was not quite comfortable with where he was financially, and he told her that he was unsure about making such a big decision at that moment. He loved her very much, but did not want to take on a commitment that he could not fully live up to.

When she heard his decision, she decided that they would split up. Within a very short period of time had moved in with another guy. Although she was romantically involved with this new man, she had very little connection with him, and made a concerted effort to make this relationship known to her ex.

My friend was broken up. He felt betrayed, and his whole personality changed from one of a happy go lucky guy to a quiet and reserved soul. He was full of anger, resentment and sadness. He was like a trained and broken dog with his tail between his legs.

After several weeks of madness, he contacted her and begged for her to return to him. She agreed, but only if she could get "the things that she wanted". Even though his personal situation had not changed, he could not take seeing this other man with his girlfriend and he caved in.

They are now married and have two children.

I want to hear what you think about these two. Is this the way love is meant to be? Do you believe that this technique for "getting what you want" is an ethical one? Would he have been better off with someone else?

What do you think of him?
(Someone who has trouble pulling the trigger)
What do you think of her?
(Someone who would hold his or her finger on the trigger)

I have my own opinion on this matter, but I really want to hear yours in the comments section please.