May I Ask You a Few Questions About Love?

The Saturday Evening Post has an article written by Sandford Brown entitled "May I Ask You a Few Questions About Love?" which I found to be extremely interesting and relevant to my topic.  Elmo Roper's interviewers asked a sampling of Americans seventy-five questions to collect data on how our nation views love.  The article discusses lots of data that was found after analyzing the questionnaire, but one piece of data I found to be especially interesting was when husbands and wives were asked if their love has grown, faded, or stayed the same over the years.  38% of women and 34% of men stated that their love had stayed the same, 36% of women and 32% of men stated their love grew, and only 14% of men and women stated their love had faded.  

This piece of data I find to be extremely hopeful for our nation.  As I look at the relationships in my life, it seems really hard to find a married couple that is genuinely happy.  I have three best friends, and out of the four of us, my parents are the only two who are still married.  Divorce seems so common in my world that to hear that in America, there are still over two-thirds of the people that feel that their happiness since getting married has at least stayed the same, revives a sense of optimism towards love.  Not all marriage ends in divorce.  In connecting this article to my research paper, it is easy to see how it will fit in.  I have read another article about the effects of age on a marriage which was rather negative, stating that there is a period, especially when a couple has kids, where their love and passion falls considerably.  However, this article gives an alternative view point and shows the pros of getting married and living with your best friend forever.  

Brown, Sandford. "'May I Ask You A Few Questions About Love?'." Saturday Evening Post 239.27 (1966): 24. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.