Love - Dating - Articles about Parenting

Love does not consist
in gazing at each other
but in looking together
in the same direction
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It is probably not love
that makes the world go around,
but rather
those mutually supportive alliances
through which partners
recognize their dependence
on each other
for the achievement
of shared
and private goals.
- Fred A. Allen

Most people think that their marriage is based upon love. However, it is questionable whether a young couple can distinguish among true love, puppy love, mutual attraction, and infatuation – or merely a lack of bickering.

Hollywood’s version of love does not reflect reality. In Fiddler, Tevye asks his wife Goldie, “Do you love me?”

She doesn't know. She never thought about it.

However, she concludes that after 25 years of living together, doing his laundry, and working with him, that she could call their relationship love. This reflection is retrospective. It was not their reason for marrying.

Does that mean that one should not search for a partner to love?

Not at all. Love is wonderful. However, a couple should marry based on quantifiable issues - issues that can be counted or measured. You and your confidant can deal with those issues more effectively and successfully, and they may be able to help predict a life of true love.

Summary

A couple that states that they are in love may consider their feelings to be one factor in their decision.

However, how can they tell if this apparent feeling of love makes the current partner a more likely candidate than any other?

They probably can’t.

Where do you want to go now?

See the next article in this series