Marriage sans rose-colored glasses
Do strong families still exist? After 30 years as marriage and family counselors, we know that despite the average family’s ups and downs, the answer is yes. What puzzled us was why so much media attention focused on the down side of family life.
We decided that part of the problem might be a lack of information, and that a round of research – on family strengths – might help to correct the negative slant. We placed a brief notice in four dozen newspapers in 25 states. “If you live in a strong family, please contact us. We know a lot about what makes families fail; we need to know more about what makes them succeed.”
One thing I've been spending more time wondering about recently is why so much media attention is focused on the down side of married life. Newspapers and magazines are filled with stories of marriages gone awry; film plots and TV show storylines so often revolve around nagging and philandering spouses. And hardly do the stories show overcoming the hurdles of married life.
I'm sharing two stories about married life. They're not about perfect and problem-free relationships (there's no such thing, as most of us know); neither are they prettified accounts of marriage that has husband and wife traipsing three feet off the ground, clouds of mist billowing around them, in permanent wedded bliss.
The first is from the Heartwarmers site, while the second is something I got on email which, I assumed, was written by a man from somewhere in Asia (based on the names).
See for yourself.
posted by sunnyday at 6:29 PM
2 Comments:
"D" sWeEpeR said...
Im not yet married but based on my observation - majority of the couple now forget the basic roles of partnership. It happened due to social demands and standard of living marital problems usually involve breakdowns in communication, when the breakdowns of communication happens, the mutual needs of the family are unmet and lead to destruction. Maybe these are the few reasons why the media was so focus in that issue.
10:27 PM sunnyday said...
Hi D Sweep,
Probably families breaking down make for more interesting copy and, thus, more readers and viewers. But it's quite disheartening to see stories of marriages breaking up left and right and hardly any accounts of marriages and families overcoming the difficulties, stressing HOW they did it or are doing it.
You're right about the importance of communication..
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