STAY MARRIED FOR LIFE
A few years ago, we launched a campaign at Winning At Home called STAY Married For Life. Since that time our mission has not wavered. Our focus continues to be encouraging people to publicly commit to stay married for life. Since 2007, over 50,000 people have taken a stand for marriage.
This is not a gimmick and there is no cost to sign up. Our goal is to simply bring marriage back to a place of prominence. Instead of hearing all the time about how many people are getting divorced, let’s celebrate how many people get married and stayed married. It’s okay to try and figure out what went wrong in someone’s marriage, but why don’t we invest the same amount of time and energy in learning how people stay married.
For instance, the media only highlights the celebrities who get divorced. They rarely focus on couples in Hollywood who have been married a long time. Did you know Paul Newman and JoAnne Woodward were married 50 years? Bill Cosby and his wife have been together more than 45 years and Denzel Washington, Jay Leno, Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Michael J. Fox have all been married over 20 years. But that doesn’t make for good headlines.
In a society where convenience outweighs reason, people are encouraged to get a divorce the very moment they don’t feel happy with their spouse. Never mind taking the time for counseling, trial separations, or any other effective tool for helping couples stay together. It has become far too easy and expedient for people to just get a divorce.
A divorce is costly for everyone. First and foremost is the emotional cost to the couple. Most people I know who have gone through a divorce say it is one of the toughest situations they’ve ever faced. If there are children involved, the price gets exceedingly higher and the relationships among extended family members certainly take a toll.
There is also a real, tangible cost associated with divorce. According to a government study I read, every divorce costs the government between $25,000 and $30,000. Those figures are incurred from court expenses, health issues that arise from divorce, and lawyer’s fees. So I began to think. If there were 1.2 million divorces last year times $30,000—well you do the math.
In an economy where we spend a lot of time talking about how to lower gas and food prices and keep people employed, we believe at WAH we can do our part to help by simply saving marriages.
Anybody who has ever been married knows that marriage is not always easy. To create a blissful and healthy relationship, it starts with a recipe that is laced with time, several cups of focus and energy blended with a lot of forgiveness and compassion. For those who can endure, they will be rewarded with a lifetime of memorable moments.
Stay Married For Life is a campaign that includes anyone who is married whether it is for the first time or the third. People I know who have been divorced are usually the biggest cheerleaders for marriage. They understand, better than anyone, the devastation caused by divorce.
This is not an exclusive club but rather a movement of supporters who believe in forever marriages and want to encourage couples to stay married for life. Members receive free weekly and monthly marriage tips.
You can visit our website at www.winningathome.com and click on STAY Married For Life for more information.
Winning At Home, Inc. is a nationally-known organization designed to assist and encourage people of all ages and stages of family development. Dan Seaborn, founder, wrote this article. E-mail your questions or comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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