Let's Have a Change!

Divorce is a common occurrence in Korea. Few are the  people who do not know divorced couples among family, relations and friends. Divorce is taken for granted, there are no negative influences on their position in society, sense of self-worth, or the way they are accepted by others. No one considers it a fault, which is a great change from the past-- the  divorced  do not see it as a failure. These are the words of the  Desk Columnist in the Catholic Times. 

The numbers of divorced are numerous. From the year 1950  we have a 13  fold increase. Without knowing  the facts given by  statistics we  sense it by living in  society. It is a serious matter.

What happens within the lives of a married couple are  known only by them, and one has to be very careful in what is said. There are cases where it is necessary for them to separate. We can't consistently condemn or be sympathetic in all cases.Seen as  an individual problem there are two possible responses.  (We are not talking about the separation that comes because of abuse or repeated  marital infidelity.) One understanding would be seeing the circumstances and being sympathetic with the separation and the other: Why change one person for another? --  the pessimistic philosophical view.

Even with a serious crime, circumstances can mitigate  the sentence imposed.  The couples are desirous of an harmonious life together and when this is not achieved we are sympathetic to the separation. There are those that can't live together. The relationship has turned into  hell,  and the best thing is to separate. Children are important  but today it is not the decisive issue. The writer, making his private opinion known,  is  not  for the changing of partners when things are not going well. The reason for the divorce is not usually, solely the problem of one  partner, but the suspicion is that both are responsible. When the sincere  concern for the other and failure to abandon an excessive attachment to one's own will, the possiblity of separation enters.  There are many couples that live with this stress and conflict in a tunnel in which they continue to  journey together. 

It is true that we have little to say about the relationship of couples but the number of divorces in society is something that can't be overlooked.  Our religion tells us that the covenant that was made at marriage was not a temporary one.  Couples  are bound together with a promise to God and to each other to live as husband and wife until death separates them.

"I can't live, let's change" is not the way we should recklessly express our feelings about the problems that arise in married life. However, there are many actions that are a dereliction of duty and condemned by the citizens as undemocratic  and self-righteous in regards to the government. In these cases looking at the way the government  has acted, the slogan let's have a change, is appropriate.