Divorce--a Tradition for Failure

There are no two people however close and compatible, but who could find some occasion for misunderstanding and some causes of annoyance with each other—especially if they become careless and inconsiderate.

In Marriage, may things may lead to misunderstanding: differences of personality (peculiarities, we my choose to call them if we are speaking of the attributes of others). Misfortunes, financial set backs (which all add to the tension), lack of consideration, lack of appreciation (or what seems to be so), and taking too much for granted, letting down, and becoming careless in conduct, and perhaps careless even in personal appearance. And as misunderstandings are magnified, marriages run into trouble, with the breaking up of homes, with hurt and unhappy children, and little gained by any of it, and irreparable damage done. The reasons may not always be apparent, but the unhappy results almost always are.

Part of the problem may be that running away sometimes seems to be the easiest solution, But actually it isn’t—for without some change inside, the personalities and problems are simply shifted to another scene, with costs increased, and with endless complications; and the principal participants as well as the innocent by-standers—children and others—are always faced with the fact that there has been a failure. And a tradition for failure is exceedingly hazardous, in families. A broken home, a broken marriage, always requires explanation. But making a marriage work well is the beginning of a tradition for success. Marriage is more than a social convenience, more than a legal contract. It is a sacred covenant.

Happiness, sincere, mature, stable happiness, seldom if ever comes easily of accidentally. One must work at it, live for it, give up something of himself and of his own selfishness, and conduct himself with courtesy, with character and consideration—if he wants to make a good and happy marriage.