佚名
Anonymous
AreaderinFlorida,aarentlybruisedbysomeersonalexerience,writesintocomlain,
"IfIstealanickelsworthofmerchandise,Iamathiefandunished;butifIstealtheloveofanotherswife,Iamfree。
"
Thisisarevalentmisconcetioninmanyeolesminds—thatlove,likemerchandise,canbe
"stolen
"。Numerousstates,infact,haveenactedlawsallowingdamagesfor
"alienationofaffections
"。
Butloveisnotacommodity;therealthingcannotbebought,sold,tradedorstolen。Itisanactofthewill,aturningoftheemotions,achangeintheclimateoftheersonality。
Whenahusbandorwifeis
"stolen
"byanothererson,thathusbandorwifewasalreadyrieforthestealing,andwasalreadyredisosedtowardanewartner。The
"lovebandit
"wasonlytakingwhatwaswaitingtobetaken,whatwantedtobetaken。
Wetendtotreatersonslikegoods。Weevenseakofchildren
"belonging
"totheirarents。Butnobody
"belongs
"toanyoneelse。Childrenareentrustedtotheirarents,andiftheirarentsdonottreatthemroerly,thestatehasarighttoremovethemfromtheirarentstrusteeshi。
Mostofus,whenyoung,hadtheexerienceofasweetheartbeingtakenfromusbysomebodymoreattractiveandmoreaealing。Atthetime,wemayhaveresentedthisintruder—butaswegrewolder,werecognizedthatthesweethearthadneverbeenourstobeginwith。Itwasnottheintruderthat
"caused
"thebreak,butthelackofarealrelationshi。
Onthesurface,manymarriagesseemtobreakubecauseofa
"thirdarty
"。Thisis,however,asychologicalillusion。Theotherwomanortheothermanmerelyservesasaretextfordissolvingamarriagethathadalreadylostitsessentialintegrity。