Why are you in such a giant hurry to marry and have children? Marriage is a huge commitment and children are a major, life changing responsibility. Unless you are in late middle age and feel that you will have no further opportunities, why hurry?

Ultimately, neither man is for you. Both lack something you desire.

How will you know when you meet someone that you want to marry? His very presence in your life will make you completely blind to other men.

That's how you know.

Unlike our Federal Government who can't waste money fast enough. We're not supposed to save because we're supposed to spend? But then if we spend our savings instead of holding on to it we're being reckless?

I don't think it's the average American citizens who need balance. Our Federal Government and the incompetents who have been managing it these past years are the ones in need of balance.

This is just a typical cheap shot- blame the little guy while the ones who really have an impact (Wall Street, the Federal Government) do nothing but screw things up worse.

Ronald Reagan was not a terrible President, nor was he great. He was an average president who had the luck of immense popularity. Without that, he would be viewed with a much more critical eye than he is.

Let's not forget Iran Contra- which was treason, plain and simple. The Reagan Administration sold arms in shady deals to a country with which we have no diplomatic ties, a country whose leadership at the time despised us, and then took the profits from those illegal deals and gave them to Central American death squads who killed civilians and clergy members.

Do I need to even mention what would have happened had a Democratic president done this? But it was all shuffled away and blamed on low level personnel and the fall guy Oliver North.

Need I also mention that "Reaganomics" and the ideology behind it is the DIRECT reason why we are currently in the recession we are in?

No, the GOP will never mention these things, or if they do, they will blame them on other tangental "reasons" which often have little or nothing to do with the reality. The fact is- the GOP is dead in the water without the benevolent ghost of Ronald Reagan looking over them and allowing them to paper over their gaffes. Their ideology is bankrupt, they cannot govern, and they leave nothing but a mess in their wake. Who else to they have? Without Ronald Reagan, the American people would wake up to the fact that Republican ideology is, and has been, a disaster.

We live in an unprecedented time, wherein we are able to stay connected, should we so desire, at all times. This affords us enormous opportunity and a surge in productivity, but the flip side to that is that we lose a quality of life that is not constantly engaged.

Our technology and connectivity is a wonderful resource, but we risk the loss of our personal time and opportunities for a quality of life that is not constantly “on the job”. What is the benefit of this high productivity if we can never disconnect, never unplug, never turn off? Our interpersonal skills and relationships suffer if we can’t have a conversation with someone without they or us checking our text messages, email, etc.?

I enjoy my job, but I don’t want my entire life to be at work.

As Mr. Conley states: “… we've exceeded almost any other nation in terms of work hours.”

We work harder, but our quality of life is less than our counterparts in Europe, who have nationalized healthcare and mandated vacation times. What is our obsession? Americans work like dogs and still have great economic and personal anxiety, terrible (if any) health insurance and a widening gap between the ultra rich and the middle class. We need some balance here, people- not only in our economic system but in the very way we are living our lives. We are running and running and working ourselves to death, we have nothing to show for it and we’re stressed out and miserable.

And: “It's difficult to stay in one place for an extended period without checking for new messages.”

So we all have a severe case of cultural ADD. Yuck.

It is not your church’s role in society at large to act as moral arbiters for anything you perceive as a transgression- most especially for those who do not share your particular belief system. Last time I checked, this country was still a democratic republic, and not a theocracy.

You are free to your opinions and beliefs, as this is a democracy. However, I know for a fact that your religion’s exclusionist mindset, and belief that people are wrong and need healing (for something they have no choice over-see my previous letter) severely damages lives both physically and psychologically. This is not at all compassion, nor understanding- no matter what you tell yourself in order to justify it.

Ultimately, your closing line reveals all. It is the typical condescending line couched in false compassion, which desires nothing more than punishment for those who do not conform to your rigid standards.