In the United States, fifty percent of marriages in the last twenty years end in divorce. Divorce is a traumatizing event for all parties involved, even worse if the partners have children. Only 26% of our generation married before age 32, a sharp decline from 65% of the population just three generations ago. In the last century the marriage rate has been decreasing, in the next century marriage should cease to exist. The Shakespearean motivation of love has only existed as a primary reason for getting married in the last century. Before then the main reason for getting married was the economic benefits it brought. These advantages still exist today and provide multiple profits on several fronts. However, the average cost of a wedding in the United States is twenty-five thousand dollars, not including the cost of the honeymoon. The average cost of a divorce is fifteen thousand dollars, but it has been known to reach up to one hundred thousand US dollars. It is these expenses that make the economic benefits of marriage not worth it when there is a high relationship mortality rate. When I was a child, my parents dragged my family through a pretty terrible marriage. It destroyed relationships and destroyed me and my brother mentally. As a result I suffer from anxiety and depression disorders and my brother has shut down mentally for three years. When people look at divorce, they often look at the numbers; the divorce rate or total cost. What people typically don't see is the high mental strain it causes on those involved. On average one in ten Americans suffers from depression, there are an average of 30,000 suicides per year. Depression resulting from a failed marriage is a… middle of paper… more will manifest itself later in time, and it is unclear whether this is rational. So imagine the situation is this: you are on a game show. You can choose to play a game that involves opening one of two doors, or abandon the game and not open either door. If you choose to open a door, then, if your choice is lucky, you will be married to the person you find behind the door, and you will love that person, and you will always love that person. If you choose the wrong door, you will also be married and asked to make a lifelong commitment to the person behind the door, but that person will be someone you have no feelings for. This removes the hope of having a relationship with someone you love. The question is: would you choose to play this game? “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius