The Fresh Prince
Today I heard Will Smith talking about marriage. He explained that he and his wife took divorce off the table as a possible option. Now, I've always liked Will Smith and I've always thought the Fresh Prince of Bel Air was funny enough, but his philosophy on marriage, while seemingly a fresh idea, is actually just the "old" thought coming back to the mainstream.
It seems odd that a superstar making millions and millions of dollars would actually consider something as odd as loyalty in a marriage. You see, I can respect Will Smith as he and I are both sex symbols in a day and age when loyalty is in short supply, but we both are of the thought that a marriage commitment is just that - a solid commitment - as it used to be in the good old days before people started questioning just how happy they are.
Of course you aren't happy! You're married! (Just kidding, dear).
"With divorce off the table, we needed to figure out ways to actually enjoy being around one another," Smith said.
Geez, there's a novel concept - figure it out. Talk it out. Work it out. Find the common ground. Give a little. Take a little.
Yet the problem with the philosophy has to be in that both people really need to make that same sort of promise - divorce is off the table.
Divorce, it seems to me, probably happens when one person is willing to figure it out, talk it out, work it out, and give a little - while their partner would rather -not figure it out, shut-up like a clam, quit working, and decides to take way the hell more than they give.
"Marriage is the hardest thing you'll ever do in life," philosopher Smith said. "Yet if you eliminate the easy path out of it, then you are both forced to work at it."
Seems logical.
Lately I've been watching a lot of crime tv - 48-hour dramas, and high-tension crime dramas.
"Do you think the husband did it?" my wife will ask two minutes into the disappearance of the wife.
"Of course he did," I answer.
I may be cynical, but the worst type of behavior in the world is usually borne of a relationship that began under some misconception of love.
In my eyes, Will Smith has a healthy way of looking at it.
You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above.
Unfortunately, Bruce said that just before the end of his first marriage.
Here's hoping Will and Jada actually took the option off the table.
It seems odd that a superstar making millions and millions of dollars would actually consider something as odd as loyalty in a marriage. You see, I can respect Will Smith as he and I are both sex symbols in a day and age when loyalty is in short supply, but we both are of the thought that a marriage commitment is just that - a solid commitment - as it used to be in the good old days before people started questioning just how happy they are.
Of course you aren't happy! You're married! (Just kidding, dear).
"With divorce off the table, we needed to figure out ways to actually enjoy being around one another," Smith said.
Geez, there's a novel concept - figure it out. Talk it out. Work it out. Find the common ground. Give a little. Take a little.
Yet the problem with the philosophy has to be in that both people really need to make that same sort of promise - divorce is off the table.
Divorce, it seems to me, probably happens when one person is willing to figure it out, talk it out, work it out, and give a little - while their partner would rather -not figure it out, shut-up like a clam, quit working, and decides to take way the hell more than they give.
"Marriage is the hardest thing you'll ever do in life," philosopher Smith said. "Yet if you eliminate the easy path out of it, then you are both forced to work at it."
Seems logical.
Lately I've been watching a lot of crime tv - 48-hour dramas, and high-tension crime dramas.
"Do you think the husband did it?" my wife will ask two minutes into the disappearance of the wife.
"Of course he did," I answer.
I may be cynical, but the worst type of behavior in the world is usually borne of a relationship that began under some misconception of love.
In my eyes, Will Smith has a healthy way of looking at it.
You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above.
Unfortunately, Bruce said that just before the end of his first marriage.
Here's hoping Will and Jada actually took the option off the table.
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