Divorce – Its a sad commentary
Its a sad commentary on our times but it’s a fact that more than half of the marriages in the the United States are destined to end in a separation followed by divorce. Research in the majority of other developed nations around the globe bears out results that are just as high. It seems that we are living in a world that no longer believes in the sanctity of marriage. Despite the conventional marriage vows most people make, which almost exclusively include the declaration, “until death do us part,” marriage has become more or less a casual relationship in many segments of todays society. To make matters worse, people living in the public eye, for instance entertainers, motion picture and tv stars, and professional sports figures, have extraordinarily high divorce rates. Almost as serious, in the United States law enforcement officers experience a very high divorce rate, one of the highest of any profession. The reasons why are numerous: it’s a dangerous profession putting enormous stress on the partner left at home to worry day in and day out. The uniform, badge, weapon and aire of authority appeal to the opposite sex like a magnet. Once the “new” wears off of the relationship the hero of the relationship is seen for what they really are, just a normal person in an abnormally difficult profession. And finally, dealing with the negative aspects of human nature on a daily basis makes a policeman cynical. About fifty percent of first marriages in America end in divorce and the stats are generally as high in Russia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Approximately two-thirds of second marriages fail, while practically three-quarters of third marriages dissolve into divorce. Just what happened to the vows taken during the marriage ceremony? Why are people jumping into divorce rather than solving their particular differences? How little importance people place in marriage is evidenced by the number of couples who choose not to marry, but instead live together in “common law marriages” while nevertheless choosing to have children. in certain socio-economic groups it’s not uncommon for a unmarried woman to have numerous children by different fathers.
Divorce is a major cause of the breakdown of the family unit:
The breakdown of the family unit as the center of every day life is part of the cause for the lack of commitment to marriage. Conversely the lack of commitment to marriage is a significant factor in the breakdown of the family unit. The movement away from religious faith has also contributed to many couples no longer taking their marriage vows seriously, and falling into the abyss of divorce. The absence of belief in a higher power suggests that the vows they take “before God and man” have no real meaning in their hearts or minds. Fortunately, divorce between husbands and wives with children is about forty percent less than that between couples with no children. But even within that smaller number, what message does it send to the children of these failed marriages that it is okay to separate and divorce? What sort of commitment can we expect from these children when it is their turn to enter into a marriage relationship? More than one-third of our children come from broken homes and the average age for a first divorce is approximately thirty years old, the median age when most of us have children. Thus, many children are raised in single parent-households during their formative years, a time when they need both male and female parental influences. The divorce rate and the apparent lack of respect for the institution of marriage is a sad commentary on the state of our modern society. If marriage is no longer a sacred act between a couple who are (or should be) making a life time commitment, then why marry at all? We could revert to a primitive societal structure like the one amongst chimpanzees, where casual male-female relationships are the norm and promiscuity is universal. This causes the paternity of their offspring to be so in doubt that all the males behave like each and every newborn are their offspring. But at least the male chimps show some responsibility, unlike their human cousins.
Here’s one statistic that is telling: Among couples with strong faith based beliefs and practices, respect for marital relationship is much stronger and divorce is much less common.
A respect for their faith gives greater meaning to the promise they made in the eyes of their God. Working at a marriage is harder than treating it as a casual liaison and only about half the couples in a marriage relationships are willing put in the effort to solve problems when they occur. Unfortunately, divorce is often the sad result.
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