TED Community » Patrick Neal

More About Me

People don't know that I'm good at

Blacksmithing/knifemaking

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.20 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Do you think marriage, as a social commitment device, still works? Or did it ever work?

  Dec 24 2011: Traditional marriage, like western culture itself is defined by judeo-christian values. I am not referring to any sociological factors pre-dating this period. As far as happiness is concerned, the purpose of marriage is not the happiness of the parties involved. Misunderstanding of this one point is the cause of many failed marriages. However, recent studies have proven that those who choose to stay married are happier eventually, after they have taken the time to work out their problems. Those who take the easy way out, and sever their relationship rarely resolve their problems and take them into their second (usually doomed) relationship. I have been married for 24 years and have 5 talented children, so I have some idea of what it takes to make it work.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Do you think marriage, as a social commitment device, still works? Or did it ever work?

  Dec 23 2011: Marriage is the dominant social commitment device. As such it is an effective barometer of the health of a society. It is well known that when marriage is in decline it does not bode well for a society. If marriage did not used to work, then we would not be where we are today in Western Culture. Traditional Marriage has always been a covenant between a man a woman and their God. The majority of marriages would work out if divorce were only considered in cases of infidelity or violence. It's becoming increasingly clear that divorce is usually instigated by those who are unwilling to address their personal problems, this helps to explain why second marriages are even more likely to end in divorce.