When the institution of marriage began people were lucky to live until they were 30.
Now we are living until 80-90. Being in close quarters with the same person for 60-70 years is very difficult.
This has more to do with the evolution of the institution of marriage rather than life expectancy. Look at how many people get divorced young and within 5 years of marriage even when they have kids together. Marriage has evolved to be more of a social and more importantly legal contract. Yes, our hormones play tricks on us to make us believe in soulmates and true love but over time, the reality surfaces. In older days, people stuck together because it was harder to get divorced. Men and women often had distinct roles and it was hard for one to take over the responsibilities of the other. Today, that is no longer a barrier with women working and men being able to take care of the house and kids. There was also stigma attached to getting divorced which is no longer the case.
Originally Posted by wayfarer
WAW promised for better or worse, sickness and health. smilie shouldn't bear the burden of a broken promise as his fault.
The person breaking a promise rarely bears the burden at least in the short term. If they had to bear the burden, they would likely not break the promise. It is usually the other person that is impacted
And speaking of promises and vows, do they really mean anything anymore other than personal convictions? 50% of marriages end in divorce. A large percentage of the ones that don't end in D, involve breaking vows in some form of the other such as EA/PA or even thinking about an EA/PA. What % of couples can truly say they never broke *any* of their marriage vows? I wonder if we can say with confidence that marriage vows are more meaningful than 'pinky promises' made by kids?
