Beating the Odds

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

He asked her to marry him. In front of her entire family. Now that is one brave man! The wedding is set a year from now. The proposal was not a surprise. Well, the timing of it was, but they had talked at length about a future together as husband and wife.

They plan to beat the odds. It's no secret that marriages fail. I guess it's 50/50 that any given bride and groom will end up divorced. Of the half that stick it out, how many of them have happy, healthy marriages? Most leave it up to chance. They just believe that their love will carry them through the changes of life; the richer, poorer, sicker, healthier, better and worse of it.

Not this remarkable young couple. They had an issue, and they went into therapy for it together. A kind of pre-emptive strike against marital discord. Many couples seek counseling as a last-ditch effort to infuse some life back into a dead marriage. Not this remarkable young couple. I dislike gender stereotypes, but really isn't it usually the woman who wants counseling and the man who drags his feet? It says so much about this man that he was willing to do that. He said doing so was one of the best things he has done. It was brave of both of them, because therapy could have revealed that they were not right for each other. Sometimes folks in love become too determined to be together and don't want that belief challenged. They just want to go full speed ahead with wedding plans without careful reflection.

It isn't difficult to have your relationship fail. Just do nothing about it until it's too late, and there you have it: another statistic. How inspiring when good people admit they have a problem and decide to address it before it even has a chance to poison the relationship. Really, they have given themselves the best possible chance at a successful marriage. Happiness is something that should not be left to chance.

Susan