Goethe proposed in his novel, Elective Affinities (I believe...), that marriage contracts should expire every 5 years, and couples could either renew their vows or go their separate ways. The idea was pretty revolutionary at a time when people could feel secure in their relationships under all kinds of binding social mores alone.
I think modern relationships by design in general force us not to take each other for granted like we used to be able to. You can't continually mistreat someone and expect they'll never dump or divorce you.
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Date: 2006-10-25 08:31 pm (UTC)I think modern relationships by design in general force us not to take each other for granted like we used to be able to. You can't continually mistreat someone and expect they'll never dump or divorce you.