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Love Is All You Need

I believe it was John Lennon who coined the title of this passage that I have borrowed. I do so because it is true on so many different levels. There are the obvious:

1. Love of family (wife, kids, parents, friends, relatives, etc.)
2. Love of self
3. Love of community
4. Physical love (copulation)
5. Mental love (desire)
6. Emotional love (caring)

But in addition, and in some ways just as important are other forms of love that are critical to attain a full, rich life:

7. Love of work (for me my research and teaching)
8. Love of routine (life is usually reasonably predictable, and embracing that can be wonderful)
9. Love of humanity (individual and global)
10. Love of learning
11. Love of creativity (passion)
12. Love of love

It is truly LOVE that is all we need... to have success in life. Think of whomever you consider to be your heros.... and if you examine them closely, you will find that they surround themselves with love of at least several of the 12 categories above.

A few of my heros (not in rank order):

Ernest Hemingway
Konrad Lorenz
William Faulkner
my own father
Louis Pasteur
Santiago Y Cagal
Herman Melville
Gunter Grass
Theodore Roosevelt
John Steinbeck
Samuel Clemens
Karl von Frisch
Charles Darwin
Gregor Mendel

Each of the above easily embraced a variety of different forms of love that enriched them and allowed them to become the great men they were.

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