Marriage — a long-established institution of learning, dedicated primarily to teaching the art of sacrifice. I know, I know, the give and take that is supposed to occur in a good working relationship has always been called "compromise."
But think of it this way: He gives in to her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which are the days he suffers; she gives in to him on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, which are the days she suffers. That is the way it really is. Of course, Sunday is neutral, a day off to go to church together, where they give thanks to the Great Mediator for denying each one their imagined, delirious joy of murdering the other. Now where I come from, that is a clear example of sacrifice. And that is the way it goes in a marriage, which is a whole lot more than just a relationship.
If you disagree and you are thinking, "Well, they each suffer three days a week, which is splitting it up equally, and that is the essence of compromise," you are right. But then there is the suffering. I submit that 9.6 marriages out of 10 are institutions of sacrifice. I just made up those numbers, but they sound about right.
I know a man who says that he and his wife are totally opposite in every respect, and they can’t escape the condition. He’s turning up the heat on the thermostat, she’s pushing up windows. He’s pushing up windows, she’s turning up the heat. He wants to go, she wants to stay. She wants to go, he wants to stay. He earns a dollar, she spends a dollar, and so on and so on. They are so locked in on the condition of their “state of affairs” that once, when he secretly decided to change his ways to hers and finally after months of determination, soul-searching, and the trauma of radical change, he discovered that she had changed her ways to his. They remain on opposite ends of the tug-of-war still today. The sacrifice they each made only caused the sacrifice they now endure.
For the full story, go to dodgecitydailyglobe.ks.newsmemory.com.
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Marriage — a long-established institution of learning, dedicated primarily to teaching the art of sacrifice. I know, I know, the give and take that is supposed to occur in a good working relationship has always been called "compromise."
But think of it this way: He gives in to her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which are the days he suffers; she gives in to him on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, which are the days she suffers. That is the way it really is. Of course, Sunday is neutral, a day off to go to church together, where they give thanks to the Great Mediator for denying each one their imagined, delirious joy of murdering the other. Now where I come from, that is a clear example of sacrifice. And that is the way it goes in a marriage, which is a whole lot more than just a relationship.
If you disagree and you are thinking, "Well, they each suffer three days a week, which is splitting it up equally, and that is the essence of compromise," you are right. But then there is the suffering. I submit that 9.6 marriages out of 10 are institutions of sacrifice. I just made up those numbers, but they sound about right.
I know a man who says that he and his wife are totally opposite in every respect, and they can’t escape the condition. He’s turning up the heat on the thermostat, she’s pushing up windows. He’s pushing up windows, she’s turning up the heat. He wants to go, she wants to stay. She wants to go, he wants to stay. He earns a dollar, she spends a dollar, and so on and so on. They are so locked in on the condition of their “state of affairs” that once, when he secretly decided to change his ways to hers and finally after months of determination, soul-searching, and the trauma of radical change, he discovered that she had changed her ways to his. They remain on opposite ends of the tug-of-war still today. The sacrifice they each made only caused the sacrifice they now endure.
For the full story, go to dodgecitydailyglobe.ks.newsmemory.com.
