Something to Ponder upon

In an age of fast foods, instant online services, lightning-speed telecommunications, and disposable "everything", a relationship is increasingly being seen as another throw away item.

In an impatient society which demands instant gratification, couples are becoming less and less compelled to maintain and develop a romantic bond. As long as the going is easy and rewarding for both parties, it's all peachy. But as soon as discord, differences, and other difficulties begin straining the relationship, the temptation to dump and pick up another becomes dangerously strong.

Gone are the times of our parents and the generations before them when a romantic bond was like boiling a good pot of herbal soup - the longer and more often you brew it, the better tasting and more beneficial it becomes.

Relationships these days are more like instant soup mixes. We want all the taste but none of the effort. As soon as the sweet turns bitter, we spit the relationship out and consume another. We thus become ill-equipped to deal with adversity in a relationship. Our relationships become stunted, unable to mature and bear fruit.

A relationship can only be enriched and fortified through the weathering of hardship. Falling in love is effortless. Staying in love is infinitely harder. Couples who go through bad times together are more likely to stay together and benefit more from the relationship.

Throw out Hollywood notions of eternal love borne of a few days on a doomed ship. Love doesn't "touch you one time and last for a lifetime". It needs hard work all the time. Fruitful relationships don't have to be preordained, they have to be maintained.

Addendum: But if the other half in the relationship is horribly cruel to you, dump he/she quick!