dragonbook

8 It’s also important to watch your relationships. College is the time when many of you will find that special person that will be number one in your life, that you’ll want to raise children with, that you’ll want to spend the rest of your life with. But it’s also the time when many of you will make mistakes that will reduce or even eliminate your chances of marital happiness. As an example, what happened to two close friends of mine at Stanford, who, to preserve a bit of confidentially, I’ll call Cindy and Stan. Cindy was a bright, charming young woman— and probably the most beautiful woman on campus. Stan was equally bright and attractive. His curly hair and body-builder physique made him look like a Greek god. When Cindy and Stan met, they fell totally and deeply in love—and you’ve probably never seen a cuter couple. But when they applied for a marriage license, they got some devastating news. Both of them had gonorrhea. Treatable? Yes, but it was in some ways too late. Cindy’s fallopian tubes were destroyed and they would never have children. Both Cindy and Stan had had prior “relationships” before they met each other, and it wasn’t clear whose “fault” the gonorrhea infection was. But you can bet both of them wish that had made some different relationship choices earlier. And, by the way, condoms are not the answer. Condoms apparently are not effective at all in stopping the spread of many of the most common STD’s. A study released a few years ago by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services gives us some rather bad news about condoms. It concludes that condoms do indeed provide protection against AIDS, reducing the risk of getting HIV/AIDS an impressive 85%. The bad news is that condoms provide no clinically demonstrable risk reduction for syphilis, herpes,