Sorry Tim, I wasn't trying to highjack this thread. I was a little off-topic and pessimistic in my post last evening.
I'd say about 95% of pre-marriage relationships fail (maybe more) and that trains us as a society to deal with failure and thus makes it not as hard to walk away when it counts in a marriage. Some are content with divorce, and others to never committ. But its not just in relationships but in every aspect of our lives we are constantly upgrading the used for new... cars, clothes, houses, music, interests, friends.. etc. Its a cycle that has a roll in the grand scheme of all life and we see it permeates everything in our lives. This built-in inane desire for companionship has turned into a curse for most of us... the majority of us are destined to become damaged goods despite our best intentions. We are only left with the option to withdraw from the world around us or accept that high rate of failure as an unavoidable risk in finding a suitable mate. In learning from past failures it becomes easy to depart from the ways that led to failure in the past and to try new ways in the future... all the while our expectations lessen. Its like a demolition derby.. you rarely find a car left that isn't banged up. Things are only going to get worse as time rolls on. But then again nothing is new under the sun... and the cycle shows itself to us again. So instead of looking at all of this as a crisis... I just consider the fact that its part of the season we live in.