Money is the placebo, and love is the cure

 We throw money at everything from education to poverty.  Expensive programs rehabilitate our drug addicts. Top dollar buys us counselors for those with marital problems, mental needs, and social disabilities.

   As long as we are spending, we figure we are doing something about the problem. It becomes a placebo. Whether the problem gets solved or not, spending money buys us comfort. Now, sometimes the money and the programs make a massive difference. But, other times, our spending reaps little result.

   I would to tell you a better solution. There is more success to be found in love than in money. If it is a change in behavior you seek, try love before money.
   You have heard the old adage, I don't care how much you know until I know how much you care.
   And, you have heard of those studies, of how babies receiving affection and love develop better than those who don't.
   It is said, Love is the most powerful force in the world. If we believe that, we should be trying it. If love really does bring about change, we should be looking for ways to instill it in our education programs, in our prisons, and in our programs for everything from homelessness to drug abuse.
   Love brings about change faster than a dollar spent.
   I do not say money cannot buy change. Surely, many of these programs reap great rewards. But, love is being ignored, and it is love that is the greater force. It might not be popular to say it, and certainly a person running for office, if he were to call for instilling love in education or such, would run the danger of being laughed of the stage. 
   We must get beyond that. We must get to a point where the answers that make a difference are neither ridiculed nor casually dismissed.
   Consider: Love has not been seriously instituted as a means of solving so many of our problems. If it is effective, if it is the most powerful force in the world, if we use it, we stand to reach heights and make progress that has never been achieved before.