Love and Marriage

I just read an interesting article from The New York Times regarding the current state of marriage in America. It's worth a read, but if you can't spare the 5 minutes, here is a brief recap of quotes:

In the past 20 years, there has been "a marked decline in the number of people with whom they discussed meaningful matters. People reported fewer close relationships with co-workers, extended family members, neighbors, and friends."

"As Americans lose the wider face-to-face ties that build social trust, they become more dependent on romantic relationships for intimacy and deep communication, and more vulnerable to isolation if a relationship breaks down. In some cases we even cause the breakdown by loading the relationship with too many expectations."

"...we should raise our expectations for, and commitment to, other relationships...we can strengthen our marriages the most by not expecting them to be our sole refuge from the pressures of the modern work force."