MARRIAGE, LOVE, AND COMMITMENT

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MARRIAGE

And just as harvests make you wise to farming, so did years of matrimony enlighten the Reb as to how a marriage works - and doesn't.  He had officiated at nearly a thousand weddings, from the most basic to the embarrassingly garish.  Many couples lasted.  Many did not.

Can you predict which marriages will survive? I asked.

"Sometimes," he said.  "If they're communicating well, they have a good chance.  If they have a similar belief system, similar values, they have a good chance."

LOVE 

What about love?

"Love they should always have.  But love changes."

What do you mean?

"Love - the infatuation kind - 'he's so handsome, she's so beautiful' - that can shrivel.  As soon as something goes wrong, that kind of love can fly out the window.

 "On the other hand, a true love can enrich itself.  It gets tested and grows stronger.  Like in Finddler on the Roof. You remember? When Tevye sings 'Do You Love Me?'?"

"When she says, ' How can you ask if I love you? Look at all I've done with you.  What else would you call it?'"

COMMITMENT

"... The word 'commitment' has lost its meaning. I'm old enough to remember when it used to be positive.  A committed person was someone to be admired.  He was loyal and steady.  Now a commitment is something you avoid.  You don't want to tie yourself down."
[...]

"Have A Little Faith" - Mitch Albom