Monday, March 10, 2008

Is divorce really that funny?

I'm sitting here this morning checking my email and reading my news sites, and I've got The Jefferson's on in the background. I heard a commercial go by that caught my attention enough that I rewound it to watch it more carefully. TIVO is such a wonderful thing! Anyway, the commercial was for some new show starting called "High School Reunion". An attractive blond woman with the words "popular girl" below her was on the screen blithely talking about how she'd married thus and so, then divorced him, then married someone else and divorced him, and on and on. 4 marriages. 4 divorces. Then she said "I wouldn't be opposed to getting married again." And she was giggling the whole time she was talking.

Whoa! Back up the truck. When did divorce become funny? I mean, I know it's used as a plot device on comedy shows sometimes, but this was what appeared to be a real lady. Giggling. About being divorced four times. Now I absolutely believe that there are many valid reasons for a divorce. No one deserves to be in an abusive marriage. Serious addiction issues that just can't be overcome. If a spouse has an affair and wants a divorce, nothing much you can do about that. I can even accept that sometimes a person truly does marry the wrong person, and I absolutely don't think that getting married just because of a pregnancy is always the best thing to do.

But four marriages and four divorces? It would seem like either this lady keeps making very poor choices in men, or she's a poor wife who can't keep a spouse or is maybe not willing to put the hard work into making a good marriage. Or maybe she just has really really really bad luck. Whatever the reasons - and I certainly can't discern the reasons from a 30 second commercial - it was still disturbing to me to see the whole thing treated like a joke. She could also be one of those people who giggle when they are nervous, but it didn't look like that. Her body language was saying she was pretty comfy on camera.

I just don't find anything funny about divorce! I've never been divorced (knock VERY loudly on wood!!) but I've seen countless friends and clients go through one, and I've never seen any laughter. Sometimes relief. A lot of anger. Always some type of sadness. But never laughter. One would hope that this gal and any future potential spouse #5 would participate in some good pre-marital counseling.

Maybe I'm just missing something here. I feel like a crabby old lady! "Well, in my day........."

0 comments:

 
blog template by suckmylolly.com : header image by Vlad Studio