Page 36 - Advanced Romance

Advanced Romance* 33
no-fault divorce symbolizes the relative ease with which divorce can be obtained today compared to the true
hell of past divorce efforts. Divorce of course can still be immensely painful. But don’t let its current relative ease convince you that changing your relationship
will almost certainly lead to a better life. We’re in a transitional phase of relationship rules that began in the 1960s and has not nearly begun to achieve a new level of cultural agreement.
IV. The Fundamentalism that relationship discussions must be knock-down-drag-out confrontations with anything from yelling, tears, broken furniture, physical abuse ... all the way to suicide or murder.
This fundamentalism is also immensely bolstered
by the media and personal history. By watching
your parents and friends interact during relationship discussions, or watching movies and soap operas. In fact, it is generally agreed that if there is a time to act like a soap opera, relationship discussions are it.
And this may have been okay during the much smaller divorce rate of the 1950s and before, because you rarely had to discuss threats to your marriage
or relationship. Now, with a 50% divorce rate, and probably a much higher non-married-breakup rate, these discussions occur much more frequently. You