"Divorce Parties"?

Our convenience-crazed, comfort-obsessed, tradition-repulsed society has done it again. Not only is the alarmingly high divorce rate bad enough, but some people are actually beginning to feel that it is appropriate to celebrate a divorce with a ceremony.

To do so is wrong on so many levels. It raises divorce to the emotional equivalent of marriage; it legitimizes it; and it makes it seem almost inevitable. We have ceremonies in our life to mark those important milestones that indicate we are progressing, developing, improving ourselves as a person. A divorce is just the opposite. It is a failure, a collapse, an abnegation of responsibility, a regression. People who get divorced thinking otherwise, should not have gotten married in the first place.

Why is it important to go into a marriage with the assumption of permanence? There are many reasons, but I will focus on the most logical and clear-cut: the children. It is every parent’s earnest desire that their children should outlive themselves. Thus, to serve as an example of maturity and stability for your children implies that you will continue to do so for as long as possible… that is, for the rest of your life. On the other hand, to enter into a union or, even worse, to bring a new life into existence, while not presuming that your union is permanent, is a crime and a shame. You are dooming your children to uncomfortable silences, long courtroom sessions, cross-country air travel alone, hate, anger, recrimination, sadness, and self-doubt. To celebrate such a thing is akin to celebrating child abuse.

In the article, a person compares a “divorce party” to a wake. They miss out on a major difference, however: death is mandatory. Divorce, on the other hand, is a choice. A death can be celebrated if the individual leaves behind good deeds and happy children. A divorce can have no positive connotations. Either you are leaving a good relationship for selfish reasons, or you are leaving a bad relationship that you never should have entered into in the first place. Either way, I see nothing to celebrate.