I'd like to talk to you today about boys and girls and the things they sometimes have between one another, often referred to as 'relationships.'

These can be fickle. They're more of an art than a science, so I won't attempt to come to any hard, irrefutable answers about them. But, I will make an effort to help us better understand them.

Maybe you yourself have had one. Maybe you know someone who had or has one. Or, maybe you're just a big loser who doesn't know anything. In any case, college is often a time when these 'relationships' begin to grow more complicated.

Thoughts of high-paying careers, status in society and personal values begin to make their way into conversations. Not directly, of course, but instead veiled under the guise of everyday conversation. Think this isn't true? Let me explain.

Some people claim to not care much about money. This is often interpreted to mean that being poor is just fine. I am highly skeptical of this, especially if you're reading this as a student.

If you are currently attending college, you care considerably about money whether you like it or not. This is illustrated by the fact that you or someone else that you know, or don't, is spending in excess of $100,000 to pay for your education.

This doesn't make you greedy, or snobby. It just makes you intelligent. A college graduate can have an easier time living a more comfortable life and fulfilling career than the average non-college graduate. This is common knowledge.

So why then, I ask, do some people get bent out of shape when individuals want to be rich (i.e. not poor)? If money doesn't matter, then what's wrong with making a lot of it? As long as you love your significant other and family more than the money, why not make some mad bank?

People need to relax on the whole topic of money and stop thinking that others will perceive them as greedy for not wanting to be poor.

Aside from money, there are several other variables that make up the relationship equation.

I think, after much discussion and deliberation with no less than two but no more than 17 women, I have found that girls my age are much more conservative, at least on paper, than I previously thought.

Not to leave men out of this, they too seem to want much of the same things that girls do.

But, the girls surprise me most.

Make some money, live a good life, maybe have a family. These are all glorious.

Thus, it is my master conclusion that men and women pretty much want the same thing.

Not all that shocking, right? Well, I'm not all that shocking of a guy. Typically, I'm so busy learning, leading and serving here at UD, I don't have much time for girls, let alone a relationship!

Alas, sacrifices will have to be made.