|
 more
Thoughts for the pessimists
What makes your brain tick?
According to researchers, any part of your body, if you don't use it you lose
it, and particularly your brain, the more you use it the more brainy you become.
Relationship Taboos
What have social scientists found out about the
relationships between men and women that is not either obvious common sense
or by now already well known?
Not a great deal, it seems, to judge from some of the best
books on the topic in the late 20th century.
One, an academic book in 1986, 'Human Relationships', by
Steve Duck, Sage Publications, which lists references to over 400 books and
papers.
Here are some of the interesting tit-bits that these
books contain:
Men 'fall in love' at an earlier point in a relationship
than women do, but women fall out of love sooner than men do.
--- Walter & Walster, 1978 ---
Contrary to popular myth, men are more romantic in their views of love than
women are, and over two-thirds of the women surveyed say that they would
marry a man whom they did not love - if everything else about the person was
acceptable.
--- Kephart, 1967 ---
The man who found a wife through a large sign outside his house
Harley Cobb placed an estate-agency size notice in front of his house in
Pasadena, California.
It read, 'Widower 55, seeks attractive lady (40-60), friendship ... may be
more' and have his phone number.
His sign and his story appeared on TV and in newspapers, and he received more
than 4,000 calls from marriage-minded women around the world.
He interviewed 800 and dated 81 of them before meeting his wife, Helen, who
lived in the neighborhood.
Helen, 46, remembers:
When I first saw Harley's sign, I thought to myself, 'There's a nutcase'. But
one day I happened to be walking by when he was outside, posing for a
photographer. I thought to myself: 'He looks normal'.
She phoned him. They met twice. They got married.
--
California local press ---
Divorce Ceremony
A ceremony called 'The Ending of Marriage' is being pioneered by Sheila
Davis, a senior divorce courts welfare officer in Birmingham.
She seeks couples to stand in her office while she takes them by the hands,
and tells them to bid farewell along the following lines:
'Goodbye. Thank you for the good times in our marriage. I wish you luck in
your new life. Our relationship will continue as mother and father of our
children, but not as husband and wife'.
Mrs. Davis, herself divorced and remarried, believes that
the ceremony helps reduce the tears and acrimony of separation and divorce.
The idea is to help people become unstuck emotionally, and
say hello as Mum and Dad of their own children'.
--- the Independent ---
What's the moral in these stories?
Post your views in the Message Board today
more
Top
|
