How can we
solve the divorce issue in Australia? Someone asked this or mentioned this in
the comments the other day. Perhaps it is beyond our abilities to solve this.
But while we are discussing the situation our nations are in, things are
changing in the culture for very practical reasons,
“Rising
living costs trap couples in shared homes after separation
Financial
barriers to leaving: Nearly half of Australian women say money pressures
delayed their separation, with many unable to afford rent or legal costs.
Living
with exes: 42% of separated couples who stayed under one roof did so because
they couldn’t afford separate housing.
Emotional
toll: Prolonged cohabitation after separation hinders emotional recovery, with
many reporting stress, lack of privacy, and ongoing conflict.”[1]
The economy
is turning against people. We westerners were rich. Richer than we realized.
Our ability to live far above the historical average was incredible. Not too
long ago an unskilled man working a simple job could afford to have a home, a stay-at-home
wife, a family and would do alright. Leisure opportunities were abundant.
Travel opportunities were taken advantage of in great numbers. But things are
changing, they are changing hard and they are changing quick.
A lot of
divorce culture was and is just a product of people having it so good in our
society that the temptation for people to leave and "find
themselves," or their secretary, or their tennis coach, or Bob from
accounting was just too high. The same with mid-life crises. Have you noticed
that Gen X and Millennial men in their middle age have been much less likely to
get a sports car, drop the wife, and pursue a life of frivolity? The reason
this is so is because these generations cannot afford the midlife crisis to the
same degree as the boomer generation. This is just an economic reality. Wealth
is shrinking in the West, and we are seeing this have all sorts of sociological
effects.
Good times
lead to a morally weaker society. A morally weaker society leads to hard times.
Hard times make people have to work harder to get along. And as hard times multiply,
as they will in coming years, people’s self-interest will move in large numbers
move them towards what we would call traditional values.
There are
upsides of hard times. And make no mistake that our nation is moving into
harder times. Relative to where we were a few decades ago.
There is a
lot of talk about how many leisure activities past generations took for granted
are becoming hobbies for the rich. This is partly true. The fact is they always
were, we are just no longer as prosperous in the West as we used to be.
List of
References
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