From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   In recent times there has been a lot of agitation against romantic love.   
      
   The simple fact is that most people will want to have families and children,   
   and it is best that this be done within the framework of the relationships in   
   which people love one another than one in which they do not.   
      
   I am reminded of Winston Churchill: “Democracy is the worst form of   
   government in the world except all others.” With love we see the same thing.   
   Love matches can go wrong – sometimes badly wrong – but so can arranged   
   marriages. It does not mean    
   that they are bad.   
      
   One thing that’s special about romantic love is that it combines the   
   physical and the spiritual. The passion is of both body and soul. The result   
   is a much richer experience of life. And another thing that’s special about   
   romantic love is that it    
   gives people ability to choose their partners, thus affirming their liberty   
   and self-sovereignty.   
      
   That love relationships can go wrong, everyone knows. But arranged marriages   
   can go very wrong as well. In India, 40,000 women a year die from domestic   
   violence. To these women, being able to choose their partner is a dream. The   
   people in the West who    
   have a negative view of romantic love should observe the situation in India   
   before they appreciate what they have in their home country. Arranged   
   marriages is the alternative to romantic love; and it is not a better   
   alternative.   
      
   One claim I keep hearing is that romantic love is irrational. I have known   
   scientists and military personnel who started their matches with love at first   
   sight and were still going strong in their 90s. These people are rational   
   enough; in fact they are    
   more rational than the people who militate against love. They are strong both   
   of heart and of mind, and we stand to learn from them.   
      
   So that while romantic love can very well go wrong, it does not mean that it   
   is bad. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. There can be any   
   number of reasons for both. Problems happen in love-based situations; problems   
   also happen in non-love-   
   based situations such as arranged marriages. In affirming romantic love, one   
   affirms liberty and self-sovereignty. And that is a noble state of affairs   
   toward which it is worthwhile to strive.   
      
   https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatthought   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)