Almost half of todays marriages end in divorces. Second marriages are even more likely to fail than the first.Do you think that this means about...

You've got a lot of questions to answer there, too many, really for this space, but let me get you started.

Marriage, as a social institution, has been around for a very long time, and in my view, it is not going to end anytime soon.  It is deeply embedded not just in American but in world culture, the vast majority of people do get married at least once in their lifetimes, and if you surveyed high school seniors, for example, the vast majority would say they plan on getting married someday.

As far as what the high divorce rate says about our society, you could draw a number of conclusions:

1) Women are more able to work and support themselves than they were in the 1940s for example, when divorce rates were lower

2)  Society is much more tolerant of divorce than it used to be, so there is less social stigma

3)  Younger generations seem not to take marriage quite as seriously as the older generations, and my sense of it is that there is less religious emphasis on marriage

4) The late 20s is the average age Americans get married these days, and I think that's a good time - after education, after you've been able to save money, etc.