Al & Tipper Gore Split: Why Can't Americans Stay Married?

Were you as shocked to hear this news as I was? I was more sad than anything. Al and Tipper Gore were married for forty years, and now they're getting a divorce. Couldn't they just stick it out and work on the relationship? They were already forty years in!

We don't know the reason for the divorce, but it makes me wonder why people in this country can't keep a marriage together. I mean, is it that hard? I've never been married before, so I don't know. But to me, these people are just starting to look weak.

I wonder if we Americans ever heard of the word "patience" or "endurance". When we live life, we go through tons of trials and tribulations, and we always manage to weather the storm. But in marriage, we seem to lose our ability to do that. When the marriage gets rough, instead of weathering the storm, we hit the door and leave.

This shows what kind of heart we have as Americans. We want everything to be easy. If it's difficult, we don't want to do it. I remember when I was in school, my algebra teacher was out for a day and we had a sub. The next day, our teacher found that the vast majority of the class hadn't completed the assignment he left for us to do. He asked why we didn't do it, and everyone said, "It was hard." He said, "So? Just because it's hard doesn't mean you can just give up and not do it."

Do you know what kind of impact that moment had on me? I thought about what he said from that point on! I think about that every time I want to give up on something just simply because it's hard.

We have such short patience with things. We don't want to wait until things get better. We don't want to endure anything that isn't pleasurable or easy. We seem to be missing that fighter spirit. Why won't we fight for anything?

This is probably why we have so many unhappy, unsuccessful people in our country. They don't have the patience or the will power to keep pushing through even though things are rough. They do just like the students in my class and give up because "it's hard".

These married people are losing a desire for their partner over dumb stuff. They still love each other, but they no longer desire each other. And that desire may be being loss because they are taking each other for granted. They get so used to each other's company, that they forget that it is actually a blessing to have that person.

Many of them don't realize this until after they go through the divorce. The women file for some sort of spousal support because they realize that having someone to support and take care of them actually is a good thing-a good thing that they don't want to let go of.

And the men remarry quicker than the women. The men realize that having someone to come home to, and having someone to cook your meal and do your dirty laundry is actually a good thing-and they're not ready to let that go either.

People overlook the perks of marriage while they're in it, then realize what they had when it's already over. And if your spouse has annoying habits, so what? That gives you no reason to divorce. No one likes everything about anybody. It is normal for you to not like everything about your spouse.

Prior to marriage, we have freedom. When you are dating, you can leave your boyfriend or girlfriend whenever you get tired of them. This is what we're used to. We are used to leaving when we've had enough. It's no wonder we do it when we're married! We aren't used to sticking it out with someone that gets on our nerves-- we are used to leaving.

Whenever society places more emphasis on the sanctity of marriage, this will continue to happen more and more. People may soon get married and stay married for a few months and get divorce. Marriage will become the new dating. If it doesn't work, we'll just get a divorce. Before you know it, we'll have a nation full of divorced people-and it will be the norm.

If you would like to receive emails of my future article links, click on my profile, then click "Follow". Also, follow VanityGoddess on Twitter and MySpace!