Observation 10: Personal Relationships

I think that the most useful topic of personal relationships is attachment. I learned in my communications class that people need to love and be loved and that it is in our nature to find people we have to have in our lives. I think that attachment is a positive thing because I feel that if you have at least one person in your life who you could absolutely not live without, then you are lucky. Having people who are special and dear in your heart just makes life more enjoyable and so I feel that attachment gives you that happiness. A con of attachment, however, is that it never remains as intense as it starts. While people get attached to one another and stay that way forever, the passion dies and it become a new sort of love. Although two people still love each other, I find sadness in the truth that your initial burning desire to be with someone eventually dies off or lessens. Changes are taking place in our culture everyday about relationships. Nearly half of all married couples fail and some of those people will never remarry again. Additionally, kids in high school and college are not dating as they did in the past. They are more about seeing many random people but not usually prone to settle down with one person. I think that is has to do with the way the media is portraying relationships. Many songs either influence going out, getting crazy, and just having a good time rather than songs about falling in love. Other songs include the sadder sides of failed relationships whether that be someone cheating on their significant other or about a bad breakup. I think that "perfect weddings" do not necessarily ensure strong marriages, rather they just influence the materialistic ways our culture is beginning to lean towards. My parents had a smaller wedding due to financial issues and because they are of different religions could not be married in a church. This could be seen as unconventional or nontraditional because they are 1) of different religious backgrounds and 2) did not include as heavily the religious aspects of marriage as apart of their ceremony. Despite them not following what is expected of a perfect wedding, they do have a happy marriage going on 25 years. I do not think it is the wedding itself that makes things perfect, rather it is who you are with. People often rush to quickly into marriages because they feel pressured to or just assume it is what they are supposed to do. A marriage will only work if those two people would die without the other, whether they are married in a cathedral in New York or a garbage dump.