Saturday, September 29, 2007

Irreconcilable Differences

While I don’t have the exact statistics with me, I believe that more than 80% of Hollywood marriages break up citing “irreconcilable differences” as the main reason for their split. I used to roll my eyes at this idea.

Up until recently, I never believed in irreconcilable differences because, well, let’s just say I wanted to have faith in happy endings. But I realized, having experienced this first hand that some things, some people, and some ideas, like parallel lines, will never meet eye to eye.

I guess if the conflict boils down to principle or ideals, it can easily fall under the description of “irreconcilable”. These are the things make us who we are, and they are the hardest things to compromise, let alone give up. Clashes in ideologies are occupational hazards. They come with the territory, and sadly, they are unavoidable.

So what makes people hold on or stay in a situation in spite of clashes and predicaments? Well, I can name a number of reasons. It all depends on what’s in it for the individual. There’s power, money, pressure, passion, and love for the job and the people in it. There are more, but these are things off the top of my head. Personally of course, I respect some reasons more than others.