Is love the best thing in the world? Or the worst?
Do you remember your first love? I remember mine well. The world seemed perfect. Everything was right as long as I could be with her. Do you remember your first heartbreak? I remember mine painfully well. The world seemed black and dark. I couldn’t possibly be happy again, because I couldn’t be with the one I loved. You’ve felt that way, haven’t you?
I’ve been thinking about love all week, both the good and the bad, because of an experience a friend has just gone through. He sent me a note Tuesday to tell me what happened to him and ask for advice. I’ve been slow to respond, because I’m not sure what I can say that’s useful. How can you help a man whose heart has been broken?
My friend just experienced his first love and then his first break-up. The relationship didn’t last but a couple of months, but it’s changed so much for him — and he’s left confused and hurting.
We’re going to call him Josh, but that’s not his name. He’s a smart and insightful young man, but he’s struggling to reconcile the horribly conflicting emotions that took him from an amazing high to a devastating low. He described everything that had happened and then asked, “Any advice?”

Intelligent, well-meaning people often pull in opposite directions
Unconscious programming makes us eager to believe our own lies
Lesson of ‘judgment day’ error? Certainty doesn’t indicate truth
As I grow and learn, I have to leave more of my ideas behind
No matter how admired you are, your work won’t make you special
For an American church, the Fourth of July should be just another day
Barack Obama’s effort to imitate FDR’s ’36 campaign full of danger
For good or bad, we default back to what feels most familiar to us