Who’s fault is it when things don’t work out in a marriage? You hear the stories about the breakups (which seem more and more frequent lately) and everyone scrambles to take one side or the other even though you never really have ALL of the information. When did the trouble start? Was it there from the beginning? Or was it the stress of being together, raising a family and fighting about money that finally got them?
I often wonder if the vast majority of people out there are happier than I am. I wonder if they’re having more fun. I wonder if they feel that their children are loving and well-behaved and whether or not they are best friends with their spouses.
Are men happier than women or is the reverse true? I once saw an article which listed the “order of happiness” with the happiest being listed first:
1) Single Women
2) Married Men
3) Single Men
4) Married Women
Do you think it might be true? Are we allowed to talk about it?
With the holidays upon us, things seem to be more magnified for women. The stress, the pressure, the busyness. Most men I know tend to retreat from the family around this time as well which only compounds the stress of the woman. What to do?
If we aren’t allowed to ask these questions in polite society or discuss them with honesty then where does that leave us? Can the women who went before us tell us the true tales of their struggles without “sugar coating” it to steer us one way or the other for sake of family? If not, how can we expect things to change for the better?
What do we want to teach our daughters and sons about love, marriage and family? We certainly can’t preach that it’s a life of wine and roses but can we set some minimum requirements for them? Can we give them guidelines to determine the things that are acceptable and unacceptable to them?
Divorce is so sad.
Full of questions today. No solid answers. Sigh.
