Marriage/relationships

[skcin]

With celebrities in the news all the time for their breakups, and with the divorce rate so high, I'm curious to know what you guys think. Why don't people stay in long term relationships or marriages? I'm asking in general, not specifically to celebrities.

Do people give up more easily? Do people get married just because they feel they should (ie - getting "older", financial reasons) instead of waiting for the right person? Have weddings become more important than marriage? Are people less committed these days, or less forgiving, or both? Is the web making it easier to cheat by enabling people to meet others more easily? Do people not bother making a financial plan before they wed/move in together? Do they not discuss how kids should be raised ahead of time? Are people more unwilling to bend & compromise for their partners? Or are they less dependent on others, making it less necessary to stay with the wrong person for the wrong reasons?

Does anyone have other theories? I know, there are a million different reasons. I personally think that part of the increased divorce rate is that in the past, people stayed together no matter what, whether it was healthy or not - and I don't think that was always a good thing, esp. if it was an abusive situation. My great aunt used to say "yeah, John smacked me a few times, but I understood." I was like HUH?!?! On the other hand, this man built his house with his own 2 hands, worked his ass off all his life,loved his wife & kids more than anything AND they were married for over 60 years. I never heard a negative thing about him - he didn't hit his kids, my aunt wasn't bruised & battered - they were very happy. She probably smacked him a few times too. OK, this cute love story is NOT meant to condone beating your spouse, I just realized it may sound that way. Ooops.

Well, the other side of the story if my mom's cousin, who got the **** beat out of her every day of her married life in the 1960's by her alcoholic husband. She finally snapped & stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife one night while he was beating her. The cops knew the house so well from all the domestic calls they got that it was ruled an accident. He "fell" on the knife. Maybe if it were more acceptable for this young Catholic girl to get a divorce, it wouldn't have happened that way - who knows?

Anyway. Um. OK. Maybe not the best examples. BUT I tend to think that people today give up more easily. Everything's so....temporary now. Disposable. I don't know. It's worrisome. Thoughts?