First Mate
July 10, 2012 | G&M | Letter to the editor First mate
To illustrate the rot at the centre of our culture, you could hardly have chosen a better essay than Jumping From The Ship Of Heartbreak (Life – July 9). In it, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox describes why she and her friends are heroes for divorcing their decent, stable husbands. They are doing it for love, specifically “love of self first,” listening to that “stubborn inner voice telling them they deserve more.”
The voice that tells us we deserve more is not a rare and beautiful thing. It is our default impulse, otherwise known as selfishness. That same voice drones through every magazine and television commercial telling us that no matter who we are, we deserve the best products and services that money can buy. The voice tells us we shouldn’t have to be patient and imaginative in cultivating our relationships. No, somewhere out there is the soulmate who will treat each passing hour spent in our presence as a divine gift.
Imagine an essay by men celebrating their divorces and their search for replacement spouses who will appreciate them more.
Anya Hageman, Kingston