Coming from America where divorce rates are 40-50%, I see that many people do not truly understand what it means to be with someone for the rest of your life and to bear his/her children.
So I will try my best to address this issue in this myTake.
When you fall in love with someone, you must not abuse this love. By abuse I mean this: if you throw all your weight and energy into one punch, you will waste most of your energy and might not even connect (actually, you'll most likely miss as most fighters know - taekwondo red belt here), thus you are more vulnerable and more susceptible to counters against a smarter opponent.
So what should you do when you fall in love? First, don't be impulsive. Be patient and get to know that person and ALL of his/her strengths and faults. You want the person you love the most to be your absolute best friend on this planet, the person you can lean against when times are tough, the person who will hold you when you cry, the person who will even die for you. This is where many people stumble and fall - they are blinded by emotions, by weapons of mass sexiness, and temporal wealth. They are desperate for someone to be with; they are blinded by our society's obsession with losing one's virginity so that the pure and honest love becomes perverted and twisted into indulgement of one's desires, a cheap adventure indeed.
So when you find this best friend, don't let him/her go. Don't let him/her go just because you think there's a better person out there because you will NEVER find that person (if you always think there's a better person). This is why some people get back together because they realize their mistakes, thankfully.
Okay, so what about children? When you have children, all your dreams and hopes MUST go into your children. You should desire your children to surpass you, you should want them to hold the torch high up after you leave this world. They are your legacy, they are YOU after you leave this planet.
My parents absolutely loved me and placed all their hopes and dreams into me. They were refugees from Vietnam who came to America in '97 with absolutely nothing. But they worked their asses off to give me and my little sister's life today. My mother now owns a hair salon, and my father is a custodian at my high school, and we live in an affluent, white majority neighborhood (somewhat mixed with Indians, blacks, and Asians). When I graduated from high school and got into college, they were ecstatic and unbelieveably proud of me. I also am going into pharmacy school starting this Fall, and my little sister plans on becoming a surgeon.
So when you marry, marry your best friend. When you have children, have your children carry your hopes and dreams.
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