Relationships: Have we moved the goal posts?

I remember being a bit of an odd bod in the earlier years of school. Because I was the only kid that didn't have a father on the scene. My parents had split up before I started school, and our family was one of the earlier single parent families.

Growing up, I knew of no-one that had suffered divorce like I had, albeit the not-so nice friends I made later in life when I got into drugs and heavy drinking. But their families were different. They didn't care, they were tossed aside as their mothers obsessed about where their next hit, smoke or drink was coming from. Families that cared stuck together. Or at least the school friends I made did, and their parents are still together today. Those are my friends of 30+ years.

And to me it seems natural, as a kid whose parents were ravaged apart by his fathers insecurity and inability to commit to one relationship, that if he were to marry a woman then that would be him "until death do us part". And it is. I married the love of my life, and no matter what happens from now until death I will always try and fix whatever it is that's broken.

I only yesterday spoke to my wife about how to better improve the way she is feeling, and she feels that I'm working too hard and not concentrating enough on family. I'm sure I can take an hour or two out of my schedule to make her feel more appreciated, no?

I'm constantly evaluating myself and the way I move through the trials of life.

Yet I see more and more, every day, relationships break up and stripped apart, never to be rekindled because of the throw-away tendencies we have as a society. There was once a time in our life that if something was broken we'd fix it, but now we can just venture out to the shiny new supermarket and purchase a brand new one.

Don't get me wrong I'm not talking about things that can't be fixed such as abuse, rape, control and all the other extremities that some relationships bring to the table, because I'd never ever condone sticking to a relationship that breeds toxicity and unhappiness.

Lack of communication is our biggest problem in society today because I see and hear things in relationships that I really shouldn't. Men and women friends of mine confiding in me things that are wrong with their partners, well, can't you tell THEM this? After all it's them that you want to change. But in all fairness to them they DO come to me for solutions on how to make them listen. But I see it everywhere. Lack of communication and trust paired with a throw away mentality.

I agree that many, many people, most importantly women won't put up with what they had to thirty years ago and more, yet rather than taking the easy option and making a beeline for the exit why not try and educate your partner. Who knows? They could eventually understand, and become a bastion for others experiencing these things.

I don't know, I just know that if I gave up right at the start when allowances had to be made and I had to start sacrificing some of the things that I enjoyed for the greater good then I wouldn't be a well-educated and extremely happy individual that I am now.

Who knows :)

What's your opinions?