"It's summertime and that means tis the season for messy celebrity divorces",says Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
This year it's Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook fighting it out in court and the Madonna/Guy Ritchie/A-Rod triangle which is yet to be determined.
In Sunday's New York Times Op-Ed Maureen asks " how do you avoid a relationship where you end up saying, “The man who I was living with, I just didn’t know who he was” — as Brinkley did in court when talking about her husband’s $3,000-a-month Internet porn and swinger site habit? (Not to mention the 18-year-old mistress/assistant)".
To answer her own question she interviewed Father Pat Connor, a 79-year-old Catholic priest born in Australia and based in Bordentown, N.J. He has spent his celibate life — including nine years as a missionary in India — mulling connubial bliss. His decades of marriage counseling led him to distill some “mostly common sense” advice about how to dodge mates who would maul your happiness.
For 40 years Father Connor has been giving a lecture — “Whom Not to Marry. To read his sage advice click here.
In fairness, the 10 points are essentially correct and there are men who can meet these standards. This is not about finding the "perfect" man, just one who meets what should be the minimum standards.
Unfortunately, the last part of the column says it all when the girls wail, "But you’ve eliminated everyone!" because it says a lot about the type of guy they are interested in - one who will impress their girlfriends. Such guys have no compelling reason to change because they are attracting women without any need to.
However, for women, qualities that will make a marriage successful are something they plan to work on after they've tied the knot and have his undivided attention. Then they are sure, a combination of withholding of sex and constant nagging should effect the changes needed!
I really have no sympathy for such divorced women.
Posted by: Steve | July 19, 2008 at 04:26 PM