Love at first fight
G. GEORGE OSTROM / For the Hungry Horse News
Seems it is getting more complex and difficult for men and women to enter into a state of holy matrimony on a successful basis. Somewhere along the line part of our society has lost track of "Love, Honor and Cherish, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health." Increasing lures along with convenient and easy outs are popping up. Let's look at a few.
The latest in another surprising new business on the Internet. It's for buying your basic "divorce insurance." I'm not making this up. You can find it under "WedLockDivorceInsurance.com." The idea is to get cash after a breakup, to use in starting over. I once mentioned here a friend who lost two homes in bad marriages so his new plan for saving all that trouble was just buying a house and then giving it to the next woman he fell for. It's guys like that who started it last August.
According to Time Magazine, the policies begin at $16 a month for every $1,250 of coverage. To keep people from taking out the insurance and then getting divorced right away, there are special cost provisions during the first four years. They gave an example, "If a policy holder who bought ten units got divorced after 10 years, he or she would have paid in $19,188 and would get a payout of $27,500." The company founder, John Logan, says he already has customers paying more than $1,000 a month on premiums … those probably don't include Tiger Woods.
Parents concerned about their daughter's or son's choice of a mate can buy the insurance but they can not be the beneficiary. That has to be one or both of those being wed. I know First Wife Iris' father was not overly pleased when his daughter chose to get hitched to an almost penniless disk jockey recovering from parachuting injuries, but I know in my heart he wouldn't have bought her any of that crazy divorce insurance. In today's society, quite a few worried fathers are apparently doing that.
Last year, a new report said several Internet sites had created a multimillion dollar business by promoting and providing "untrackable" extramarital affairs. The biggest one according to Time was AshleyMadison.com and that lady's male CEO said their business tripled the day after Father's Day because "that's when many men are feeling under appreciated." He also reported "an increased interest from neglected wives and girlfriends after Valentine's Day." That's what he said.
On another front, pre-nuptial agreements are not new to the social world going back hundreds of years, but they went big time for the common man and woman in the last 25 years. My opinion was and still is "for young people planning a life together, pre-nuptials are basically pre-divorce planning." That's no way to start a first marriage where "committal" is the key word. End of sermon.
Not all stuff on the Internet is distressing. A friend gave me a story he found last week. I'll recall as best as I can, short version. Three male pals got married. First one to a girl from Georgia. Told her he wanted the bed made and supper on time each day. On the second day he could see the bed was made but supper a little late. Third day, things were fine.
The next pal picked a girl from California and told her he wanted a warm breakfast each morning and the furniture kept tidy. Second day they had a hot breakfast but he could see the furniture was a bit askew. Third day, he saw everything was up to snuff.
The last pal chose a Montana lass, and told her expected the laundry done regularly, carpet vacuumed each day and all meals home cooked. On the second day he couldn't see that any of these things were done. On the third day, the swelling had gone down to where he could see well enough out of his left eye to make a peanut butter sandwich.
G. George Ostrom is a Kalispell resident and a national award-winning Hungry Horse News columnist.