For many, divorce happens twice, three times, or more in their childhood. We recently had a guest musician on our campus at Union who told us about the three fathers, one after another, who were a part of his childhood. In the case of fathers and children three is not better than one. The divorced themselves deal with great pain and dislocation, though of course the pain and dislocation vary according to circumstance. Everyone's experience is unique, and it is highly fallacious to group all divorced people into one mental clump as if the fact of divorce creates common characteristics.
Divorce is sometimes a clear cut case of victimization of one party by another.
Other times it represents a more subtle erosion of a common commitment on both sides. Divorce is sometimes the heartbreaking end to what was once a rich and joyful love, while other times it is the casual conclusion of a casual relationship. Divorce happens to couples whose relationship never really got off the ground, but also to couples who shared life together for twenty or thirty years or more. In contemporary society, many consider divorce little more than a personal choice akin to deciding which TV show to watch. But divorce has both subtle and dramatic social consequences.