In 72 days you can learn a new language. In 72 days you can travel around the world. In 72 days you can fall in love, and ironically just as easily fall out of love too. A lot can happen in 72 days. As many of you may well know, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from hubby Kris Humphries on Monday after just (of course) being married for 72 days. Although Kardashian has not publicly released the details of the reason for the shocking split, reports claim that financial battles were involved, as well as Kim still being in love with her ex, Reggie Bush. Despite her failure to include the public in her reasoning behind the divorce, she has made it no secret that living your life on television for millions to watch perhaps doomed her marriage.

But how shocking really is this fact? On average, a celebrity marriage lasts around 7 years. The sad thing is, this seems long in comparison to some of the highly publicized splits in the recent years. Some people date for 7 years before they even consider marriage, therefore to be married for this amount of time is shameful, especially when you vow “till death due us part”. Over the past 5 years, the national average divorce rate has plummeted to 50%. I strongly believe that this has been majorly influenced by the unfortunate image of marriage and divorce in the media. Some of the most promising marriages have failed due to stress of the celebrity lifestyle,  including the surprising recent split of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins who had been together for 23 years. Of course, the separation of these couples is due to more than just the pressure from the media. The life of a celebrity is much more complicated than any “normal” person can understand- the paparazzi, the schedules, the money, the parties. Despite this, I can not help but think that the nonchalant attitude that is being portrayed by the media regarding marriage and divorce has a major influence on the majority of the public. The make ups and breaks are hard to keep up with these days, especially when they feel like they are happening every time you turn on the television or open a tabloid. Most of my generations grand parents have been married for 30, 40, even 50 years. Divorce was not a word in their vocabulary and they set a positive foundation for their children and grand children to follow.

If you look at the other side of the argument, however, in today’s society, with the independent and rebellious mentality that many people my age and older have acquired, this can be seen as a positive freedom of choice. In many cases, a couple gets married and lives a normal life with children, jobs, and (hopefully) happiness. But we can not all deny the fact that love in complicated, so when you fall out of love with someone, or find that you are seriously unhappy, are you supposed to remain in this negative state because at one point you vowed to stand by this person?

With the way that the world of marriage is changing, there are many pro’s and con’s. Over the last few years, gay marriage has been a hugely controversial issue, but is becoming more widely accepted now than ever. This is just one example of how I believe the future of wedlock is forever changing. While seeing couple after couple fail to save their relationship, should anyone be forced to stay unhappy? On the contrary, does this freedom mean that we are losing the traditions that have followed marriage for centuries? Who is to say that our freedom of choice should be revoked from us because of tradition? Over time, we will become so immune to the tradition meaning of marriage that maybe then, this issue won’t be just that. Only time can tell. My hope is that the imagination of true love and happily ever afters will not be forever ruined by all this, because I know that the only thing that helped me find love, is the hope of a fairy tale ending.