A Ship (2 of 5?): Marriages.

From the same, p. 122:

When I think about the hooplah over longevity of unions, all I have to do is look at my parents, at parents of friends, at high-school friends now thirty-five years married, to discover couples who, though they have stayed together because of legal, socially-demanded commitment, have been wretched with one another or numbed out for entire lifetimes. It's pretty discouraging to watch Lesbian and straight friends struggling to emulate that ghastly example.

I don't think they do it because they have seen so many wonderful marriages that they can't wait to follow suit. Denial and irrationality are classic evidence of brainwashing. Few, if any, discerning people have seen at close range many wonderful marriages - or at least marriages that *stayed* wonderful. You and I agree that what all of us have seen most often is loss of identity, dependency, eventual boredom, misery, dysfunction on all levels, disillusionment, betrayal, heartbreak, violence, and/or a deep, deadening despair that passes for contentment.

. . .