*Is love enough*

There used to be a time when love was enough to weather any storm in any relationship. To some extent, it may not have been just about love, but also about the honor of commitment. Couples fell in love and stayed together. That is what was expected, and that is how relationships thrived. But times have changed, and so have the ethics in relationships.

Today, "liberty" is not just about the rights and freedoms that allow us to live as we choose, but also about the right to opt out of relationships if for some reason, they are no longer emotionally or financially fulfilling to us. In the past, love was the glue that held two people together, even through dysfunction and imperfections. Now, it is socially acceptable for couples to "try out" a relationship to see if it works. Couples fall in love, move in together, decide that it doesn't work, and move on the next relationship. The willingness to work through difficulties is no longer relevant, because there is no commitment.

In theory, love is still enough to keep the fires burning. But the moral fabric of society has shifted to the point where everything is disposable, including relationships. The US Census Bureau statistics indicate that marriages ending in divorce hover around 60%. That's an increase of almost 10 percent in less than 20 years. Also, in 1970, 72% of eligible adults were married. By 2005, that average had dropped to 59%.

The reasons for divorce have also changed. At one point, the primary reason for divorce was infidelity. Today, more people separate because of financial problems. In some states, couples don't even have to have good reasons to end marriages. They can justify moving on by citing "irreconcilable differences", which has become sort of the catch-all phrase for anyone not wanting to be married anymore.

Love also seems not to be enough even with children involved. More than 30% of children under the age of 18 live in single parent households, and more than 95% of those households are headed by single moms.

There was a time when love was the nucleus of a relationship. When women waited for men to return from war, and couples struggled through whatever life presented them with. There was a time when people obligated themselves to commitments, and there was honor in being a family. I, for one, still believe in love, and look forward to the day when love is once again enough to keep us together.