Sex For Sale in a Recession

People who read health magazines and prescription labels are an interesting bunch. Lately, what they've been reading about are two important chemicals in the human anatomy -- serotonin and dopamine. Secularists who believe we're pretty much just what our chemicals and genes are, may find something curious here. Too much of a good thing (serotonin meds like Prozac and Zoloft) can diminish the other good thing (dopamine which enriches our love life)....!

The first thing that comes to mind is, "Oh great, another contradiction to live with!" Now to feel better I have to feel less?

But wait, this is only another theory by another biology team. Helen Fisher and James Thomson posted their results on Wired.com. We don't know if Helen and Jim are involved personally, but you're reminded of the old definition of a sex researcher. "Someone who has studied 214 ways of making love, but never had a date."

Americans consider themselves a pretty sexy species. At least we spend a lot of money on sexy items like perfumes, aftershave lotions, lap dancers, Chippendale dancers and Viagra. From Las Vegas to the local porn shop, sex sells in America. But in all these studies and venues, few ever ask the indispensable question: Is love more than simply the chemicals I produce or purchase?

Some statisticians report there is more sex during a recession, because it's a cost-free, at-home release. Others tell us that right now people are too distracted to have sex. Neither group bothers to layer into their soup the ladle of love. Even the Vatican seems to concern itself with the act of procreation more than act of love.

In the final measure, we are each left to confront this exquisite mystery called love as we wish. A lightening rush? a surge of serenity? a Hallmark Card? a box of candies and a spray of roses? hands held gently in the dark of a theatre? a song first discovered together? a new infant? a prayer from our knees to our creator?

Love as most of us understand it is all of the above and considerably more. So much more and so chemically and genetically unquantifiable that for most us it is just what it is...! And -- like the spring, the sun and the stars -- it might best be saluted not studied.
Now my old chemistry teacher and the American Medical Association will surely dismiss that as an unenlightened response mechanism by an aging elder. A somewhat immature mind still clogged with too many lacy recollections of first loves, first kisses, all sorts of first firsts.

I'm rather proud to say -- they'd be right!