Alright, my sister has challenged me and I have to revisit my last entry. So often what our society considers love at first sight isn't really love. But does it follow that love at first sight never happens? Aren't there examples of couples who within a few days knew that they were in love? I'm sure there are. If there weren't any successful relationships like this, I don't think it would be such a prevelant idea. So what makes love at first sight more than lust? Having such little experience in love, I really have no idea. But I have a feeling it might have something to do with the Spirit of God. Perhaps when there is a relationship that God knows will cause great happiness to His children, He'll kind of push it along through the Spirit. Now, the only way those involved can really know is to pray and fast. What if they don't share my faith? Than I have no idea. I'm glad the only love life I have to worry about is my own, because I have few answers. Alright I better get to my homework.

oh, bytheway, in case anyone actually visits this blog, check out my sister's at www.bethanyp.blogspot.com.

I haven't written for a while. I guess I felt that the blog was stealing stuff that should be in my journal at home. That's more permanent anyway. And who is going to read his blog? Who does? But I sit and write anyway.

Romanticism v. Rationalism...which side do you stand on? Or is it absurd to even consider that you must stand on one side? Who thinks completely rationally and who merely follows their emotions? But if it is a matter of degree, I think I belong to rationalism. I can be a pretty romantic guy, but I follow my thoughts more than I follow my feelings.

Romanticism can be absurd. Take Romeo and Juliet for example. A very Romantic story. But competely irrational. Two people meet, get married, have sex, and then kill themselves, all in three days. Anyone who would throw their life away because of someone they met three days before is mindless. All it is is lust! But there's something to be said for the story too. It keeps us from thinking that life is all about, "What do I get out of it?" Never mind. I don't agree with that. It actually is a very selfish act that they kill themselves. "Oh, I can't go on without her!" Wait a second, would she want you to kill yourself? Not if she really loved you. She would want you to live a long, prosperous life, right? Romeo and juliet are only considering their own feelings. And their "love" is merely lust. That is an undeniable fact. What is love? Love is caring for someone so deeply that you will do anything for them. But loving someone to the point that you want to marry them involves knowing them. And getting to know someone involves something more than kisses, sweet words, and a bed. How many couples on their 50th anniversary tell you that they got married a day after they met? How many successful relationships come from a boy asking a girl to kiss him as soon as he sees her? When you see a girl, or guy, do you automatically see that they have all the qualities needed for a good marriage? Or are you merely attracted to them because of the physical aspect? Isn't it obvious? Why did Romeo "love" Juliet? Because she was beautiful. Physical attraction is lust. And that is all Romeo and Juliet ever felt for each other. They never knew each other. Not mentally or emotionally. Many would argue with me. Why does love have to automatically be associated with marriage? That's simple. Because people mate for life. People who jump from marriage to marriage are not happy. How come depression has increased with the divorce rate? How come suicide rates are up? Our entire society's view of love is based on the ideas of a man who married a woman many years his senior and who was already pregnant. Am I passing judgement and saying Shakespeare was a bad man? I believe that Shakespeare was a product of his times and his station in English life. His own morals are based on those of his society. But that means even more so that our understanding of love should not follow his. Nor on those of our own society. Because many people do, however, many marry for lust and the marriage falls apart. That is the best reason, the most widespread fo the rising divorce rates. Yes there are other factors, considering divorces have been occuring for most of recorded history, but today there are many more and something has to account for this.

The World Trade Center...The sit where the towers stood has become this nations wailing wall. Thousands of people travel there to visit this sight of one of our countries greatest tragedies. How many people have stood at that site and shed tears for the lives and the lifestyle lost on that day?

General Conference...yesterday and today I have been a witness to a historical event. This event, General Conference, is completely unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Every six months all the members of the church gather in meetinghouses, homes, and the church Conference Center in Salt Lake City to hear from our prophet and apostles. The meeting, held in the humungous Conference center, which seats something like 12,000, is broadcast over the internet, satellite and cable tv and the radio to most of the world. To those it does not reach in this manner, all the talks of the 5 sessions are printed in church magazines. As far as I know, no other church has its leaders communicate to the entire congregation in this manner. And hearing from the prophet is simply a miracle. Never in the history of the world has there been a time that the church has expanded to all the world. Always the church has been found in isolated areas and would eventually apostatize. Now, the gospel has been taken to every inhabited continent and it will never again be taken from the Earth. General Conference, represents this amazing time in my mind. E-mail me if you have questions.