It Is Not Good...

IT IS NOT GOOD...

God made a woman to keep him company and to be his companion.

The fact is we men don't do too well without such a companion. Researchers from the Universities of Utah and South Carolina recently collected data from 148 different studies, conducted over three decades, involving more than 300,000 people, and discovered that what God said here is literally true: "It is not good for man to be alone." People who have no social life are 50 percent more likely to die early than those who are well connected. ("Being Lonely 'Can Kill You', research Shows," Telegraph.co.uk, 9-14-10.)

In 1990, researchers at the University of California found that unmarried middle-aged men face twice the risk of dying within 10 years as their married counterparts (Associated Press, 10-3-1990). It is not good for man to be alone.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell tells the strange story of Christopher Langan, a genius with a staggering IQ of 195. (For some perspective, Einstein's IQ was 150). During high school, Langan could ace any foreign language test by skimming the textbook 2-3 minutes before the exam. He got a perfect score on his SAT, even though at one point he fell asleep.

Even so, Langan never used his exceptional gifts and ended up working on a horse farm in rural Missouri. According to Gladwell, Langan never had a community to help him capitalize on his gifts.

Gladwell summarizes the story of Langan in one sentence: "[Langan] had to make his way alone, and no one--not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses--ever makes it alone."

(Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, Little, Brown and Company, 2008, p. 115. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Worth of a Woman, 5/5/2011)