When we are born, we already have a predetermined path. Some people say God has a reason for putting you on this earth, others say you are a product of your upbringing and environment, others say it's all in the genes. Some parents have planned their children's path directly to college. But is that where life ends? Once you finish college, is your journey over? We are humans, animals to put it simply. Since the dawn of time we have been looking for company, for another "soul" that is intertwined with ours. Sharing a special bond with someone should be a revelation, but over the centuries marriage has become so diluted that it has lost its meaning. I would like to discuss in this article why marriage is simply something that has become another step in life and people jump into it without a second thought. How marriage at one point was arranged for money, social position and power, and love came later. We Americans believe in free speech and I believe we took it to the next level and started marrying for love. Then it became the social norm, and I think we started getting married just to get married because it's the next thing to do in life without even thinking about the consequences. This article will delve a little into the history of marriage and why it means so much to people to get married. I will discuss divorce and how it has affected the "modern family" as well as how I believe divorce has become the social norm. Erwin J. Haeberle writes that the way our marriage system was brought about is strongly tied to the policies and procedures of the Christian church from the Middle Ages along with the establishment of the Protestant Reformation and finally “the social……the medium of paper…… and the majority. The hopeless romantic in me would like to think that marriage is forever and happy endings happen, but the realist within knows otherwise. My parents divorced when I was 10 and since then my father has married twice, my mother is in the process of divorcing her second marriage, my uncle is divorced, both my aunts are divorced and the same goes for most of my parents' friends. Not many marriages last, but the ones that do are unfortunately subject to the test of time. Works Cited1.) http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/history_of_marriage_in_western.html2.) http://www.divorcerate.org/3.) http://bpp.wharton.upenn. edu/betseys/papers/JEP_Marriage_and_Divorce.pdf4.) http://www.professorshouse.com/Relationships/Marriage-Advice/Articles/Advantages- and-disadvantages-of-arranged-marriages/