Educational Reality Television

Being the parents of multiples, Karen and I have watched Jon and Kate plus 8 over the years. It was heartbreaking for us Monday night to watch how fractured their relationship had become. It was almost uncomfortable. One TV critic said that one almost felt like you were watching something you weren’t supposed to. I don’t know what has happened to their marriage. I don’t know if anything the tabloids said were true. I know that marriages aren’t built or torn down overnight. What we saw Monday was not the result of “one mistake”, but the culmination of a couple that had drifted apart over the course of many months(many which weren’t televised). I wonder what percentage of reality tv marriages have ended in divorce. I know that many relationships started on tv have failed(see Bret Micheals now on season 3 of Rock of Love: Whatever). Hulk Hogan and his wife are going through a nasty divorce. Nick and Jessica split up after a few seasons of their show. I’ve been wondering if the tabloids just through out junk headlines that fulfill themselves or if they really do have credible sources for some of this stuff. The National Enquirer broke the story on John Edwards’ affair, but they also said I would become rich if I stared at the big red dot long enough. Do happy couples see the headlines of their impending split week after week and it leads them down a dark path or were the headlines true to begin with? My hope and prayer is that Jon and Kate will work things out and that all of us watching will cherish our marriages even more. What was clear Monday night is that these 2 people do not seem to like each other very much any more. That did not happen overnight. I am facing a summer where I will be away from home for 4 weeks. I have to start preparing my family for that today. I have to invest time, energy, and passion into my marriage so that my wife’s(or my) tank isn’t on empty when I leave. You would think that after almost 10 years of marriage I would know how to do that effectively, but I don’t. I just know that it takes a lot of days and nights of not acknowledging your spouse before you can sit beside them on a couch on national TV and act like they’re not even there. So, are we all just gonna pile on Jon and Kate or are we gonna work everyday on our own marriages? Divorce is tragic whether it’s on national television or not.