Can't Buy Me Love

Okay, so I didn't blog yesterday. I had two papers to write for school. These fingers can only take so much abuse. Anyway, I was realizing that tomorrow will be the first Valentine's day in 30 years that I didn't have a "Valentine." I began to think about the economics of love. What is that old Beatles song "Can't Buy Me Love?" The first chorus and verse goes like this (sing it with me):

Can't buy me love, love
Can't buy me love

I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright
I'll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright
'Cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love

In this world, love means there is a cost involved. It doesn't matter how you package it, it is going to cost you. If you want a girlfriend, you're going to have to spend money taking her to dinner, to movies, to museums; whatever it is that suites your fancy.

If you want a wife, it costs all of the above, plus the cost of a diamond ring, a wedding, a honeymoon, and a house, condo or apartment. Oh and if you want to stay married, then you better continue to fork out the money for the dinners, movies, etc. and mow the lawn.

If you just want a little "nookie" or as they say "friends with benefits," or "no strings attached," type relationship, that will also cost you. The monetary costs may not be as much(unless you're paying for a professional),but the toll on your psyche will definitely drain your emotional bank account.

Do I sound like a cynic? Maybe I am a little. But I've tried it all, and I've come to the conclusion that the love that people are paying for is really a mirage. It isn't real. If you have to pay for something, then it becomes a commodity. A commodity can be traded. It can be valued (overvalued or undervalued). It forces people to make economic decisions on something that is transient; it has a shelf-life.

That is why I am taking another look at something I'd forgotten about; AGAPE. Agape is the Greek word for a special type of love. It is love that doesn't buy or sell. It is given freely, without expectation of something in return. It's the kind of love that causes an 18 year old nun named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, to give her whole adult life to feeding and caring for orphans (she wasn't always called "Mother Teresa"). It's the kind of love that compels a 19 year old soldier to jump on top of a grenade to save his brothers in arms. It is the kind of love that causes an innocent man to allow himself to be executed for a crime he didn't commit, in order to save the lives of the guilty parties who are the object of his love.

That is the kind of love I am looking for. I guess money really can't buy me love!