9. In the light of these facts the characteristic features and exigencies of married love are clearly indicated, and it is of the highest importance to evaluate them exactly.
This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.
It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.
Now I feel like we are stating the obvious here, and this will probably be short and breif, but straight to the point. In this extract the pope argues that Marriage should be about true love, and that they should be able to enrich the other person life with him/herself. And this all sounds...like common sense. Of course people will get married if they are in love right? Than why is american divorce rate at 40% since 2008. Seems large, but that still means theres 60% of people not getting divorced, well lets put these numbers in perspective. In Europe the divorce rate is at 20%, the UK 6%, and japan is declining to 2 divorce per 1000 people.
So...what are americans doing wrong? Are they following the popes advice, getting married because they truly love each other, and able to help save the other persons soul, or are they simply doing it because its the "next step" in a relationship?
Is marriage no longer about true love, and just simply something you HAVE to do after reaching a stage in a relationship. Or are americans confusing infatuation with love?
This is a really good topic. I liked this post a lot because i think it is odd at how high our divorce rates are. Especially in the United States I believe that people misunderstand the meaning of a marriage. I think that so many people are focused on having a wedding that they lose sight of what having a wedding means. Marriage is not something that should be taken lightly and for too many Americans it is being taken too lightly. Divorce is a sin but marrying someone who you are not 100% in love with is an even bigger sin.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a really interesting topic. I completely agree with the comment above that marriage has started to be taken too lightly in America and that is why the divorce rate is so high. Just look at the whole Kardashian fiasco. There was all this hype about the wedding and the two lost sight of what marriage really meant. I mean they weren't even together for 3 months. Too many Americans see divorce as an easy way, compared to other countries that avoid divorce by working their problems out together.
ReplyDeleteDivorce has really become such a common, mainstream thing to do in the US that I fear it will soon just be natural. With the option of divorce, I feel like people are just jumping into marriages way too soon and none of them realize what they are even doing because it is so simple to take back.
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