Our Readers' Opinions
April 25, 2014

Talking divorce

In times past, marriage was considered very sacred, at least in our part of the world, divorces were not an everyday option for marriages gone sour. Those days have long gone, as we have become “modernized,” so that even young couples seek the divorce route at the first signs of serious disagreement.{{more}}

This is a trend heavily influenced by the Hollywood lifestyle and the rich and famous, but also grounded in today’s material world, where pre-nuptial agreements are made to safeguard personal interests in case of a breakdown. It just may be of interest to note these divorce statistics from the USA.

Nearly half of all marriages in the USA end in divorce. There is one divorce every 13 seconds, 6,646 every day and more than 46,000 per week. Some celebrity marriages don’t last “as long as Miss Janey fire,” as the local saying goes. Actress Britney Spears, for instance, got married to Jason Alexander and the marriage lasted all of 55 hours!

The reasons for the divorces are varied, but they are ranked as (1) Poor communication between spouses; (2) Finance; (3) Abuse (4) Spouses no longer attracted to each other and (5) Infidelity.

Some people go from one marriage to another, apparently in search of happiness. The actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was married nine times. But the statistics show that whereas 41 per cent of all first marriages end in divorce, the divorce rates go up to 60 per cent for second marriages and 73 per cent for third marriages.

Such is the clamour for divorces in California, the Hollywood state, that in the last 40 years, the number of divorce lawyers has increased by 2,000 per cent.

Yes, we live in not only a fast-food world, but a quickie marriage one too. That’s a SIGN OF THE TIMES.