Have you ever been the other woman? I have. No matter what they say, being the other woman is a hell of a lot easier than being the betrayed wife.
When I was in my twenties I went out with various married men and fell in love with two of them--one while I was in college and another whom I worked with after I graduated. Despite the fact that both had small children, I saw their wives as mere obstacles to our love. It never occurred to me that there was anything wrong with breaking up a marriage. The women’s movement was in the future and in the meantime I was a child of the sixties who assumed marriage was a bourgeois invention that should be trashed along with the establishment. My second married boyfriend left his wife, but I didn't feel guilty even when I found out she later committed suicide because of our affair. My ethical development was sorely lacking I’m afraid. To my eternal shame I only felt sorry for myself.
Fast forward 35 years and the wheel of karma turned. This time it was me who got dumped for the other woman. I don't feel so sure anymore about "love" being a good enough reason to break up a marriage, especially if there are small children involved--this time it was my child.
Well, the reality is I have only myself and my generation to blame for today's easy come easy go attitude towards marriage. As Pogo once said “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We baby boomers were the ones who tore down traditional family values and started the sexual revolution We decided that personal fulfillment was more important than duty, responsibility and obligation. We were the ones who declared that “till death do you part,” was conditional on being happy in your marriage.