Sorry you felt like I dismissed your original comment with a cheap shot. The brevity was intended to highlight the divergence between what is vowed and what re

Sorry you felt like I dismissed your original comment with a cheap shot. The brevity was intended to highlight the divergence between what is vowed and what really governs. Provocative, yes. But it wasn't intended to be cheap or dismissive. I'm aware of the potential apparent dissonance with my comments and my wife's divorce. But, I mentioned it deliberately. I do think divorce may sometimes be a wise answer. But, IMO, a big component of that evaluation should be what vows were actually made. You have more optimism about the general moral character of our culture. But that's likely a worldview difference and not worth delving into at this point. I will say that my insistence on moral virtue and commitment in marriage (or commitment in general even) is intended to be diagnostic in nature, not destructive. After all, it wasn't that many years ago that most in Western culture would have shared my views on marriage and vows. I don't believe that shift in culture is healthy and I point it out in the hope that if we ask the right questions, maybe we'll start getting the right answers.