Wikipedia reports that Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher Sr. of North Carolina have the longest marriage on record: 87 years in May!
The Fishers got married before marriage went out style.
According to the Census Bureau, more adult Americans are remaining single longer than at any time since the U.S. began tracking such numbers 129 years ago.
I realize that marriage statistics don’t necessarily reflect the numbers of people living in a ‘committed relationship’ (try defining that!). As James Emery White reported recently, a Pew Research Center study completed last year shows cohabitation of unmarried individuals in the U.S. has almost doubled since 1990.
We have no way of knowing if ‘being married’ keeps couples together longer than ‘not being married’ since there are no records of how long unmarried couples stay together. I must confess, however, I think people who want to live together should be married. Marriage has spiritual, social, and legal consequences.
There is a discussion in the “letters to the editor” section of my regional newspaper on the issue of marriage as a religious or civil union. One writer is arguing for marriage being a religious union, the other sees it as a civil union. Actually marriage is both. Marriage is a spiritual covenant (with God as a witness) and a legal contract (involving a legal document attested to by witnesses). I believe the historical record also shows that marriage is essential to a strong and orderly society (try naming a nation where this is not the case).
But as our protruding divorce rate indicates, marriage doesn’t keep people together. There is only one thing that will keep two people together through the bills, arguments, long hours, sick kids, in-laws, unfaithfulness, and heartache of a relationship.
Love. Real love.
