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Well my thoughts on this is really that the state of marriage in America is a full on mess. 52 percent of those couples that get married end up getting divorced. I believe that I said something similar in a post on the Omega Psi Phi message board but my thoughts are still the same, marriage does not mean forever. My mother was with her current husband 16 years before they got married. Actually I was maid of honour. To date they have been together pushing 25 years. In the Caribbean many of my friends were raised in two parent households, though those 2 parents were not married. Today sadly marriage doesn't guarantee committment.
I think that the decline of marriage rates and the rise of divorce rates has been influenced by the change in women's roles since the 1950's. Then, us women "knew our place", we took care of the homes while the men went out and brought home that green. However today we women are "allowed" to work and are not dependent on a man. People assume that because more people stayed married then that these couples were happy, who the hell knows if they were. Maybe if those women had a choice or other options they may have gotten out too.
Furthermore, the institution of marriage amongst blacks was damaged from the days of slavery, were a husband or children were sold at any given moment. There was no stability then and feeling of extreme caution (to protect our emotions and feelings of vulnerability) has filtered down through many generations. Sorry this was so long but that's just my .13 cents.
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