So Are Successful Relationships still Possible? Prevalent?

As mentioned in the previous post, empathy and communication are key to a fruitful relationship. Empathy is provided by engaging in gender atypical tasks and communicating with the other person about the ordeals he or she faces. This directly ties into the significance of communication as seen in the song Schism by Tool. For more on this, refer to the previous posts that have been dedicated to the explanation of this song in detail.

Looking at the need for communication and how this works to provide empathy and hence a better relationship (as it leads to mature compromises, better division of labor) through complete understanding of the other person is dire proof that despite the frequency of broken relations in the world today, a successful, satisfying, quality relationship is still very much a reality. People do not believe in fairy tale love stories anymore. However, happy endings are still very much prevalent today if one knows where to look. I can draw on a very convincing example from my personal experiences.

Throughout my life, I have heard of broken relationships, seen friends with divorced parents and broken families. This is in complete contrast with my parents who have always been together and have continually been and are supportive and communicative. I have never seen them fight, but only have solution seeking discussions. It might also be interesting to note that they had an arranged marriage which lends more strength to the notion that communication and empathy are essential to a happy relationship. Ironically, my family has a lot of unequal division of labor but equal perceived division. My parents, to an extent, conform to conventional gender roles, while wildly breaking out of them as well. However, these unbalanced roles on both sides are surpassed by their strong communication, understanding, and empathy for each other so as to provide strength to their relationship rather than weaken it. This, in relation to the findings of the article provides more credibility to the idea that “men and women view marital satisfaction through a gendered lens. They attach different meanings to family labor and achieve marital satisfaction in different ways” (Wilkie et. al 593). Clearly, each of my parents functions differently and contributes in starkly contrasting ways to the family. But together, they achieve the end goal of providing a stable, supportive home for their children and themselves while enjoying an immensely satisfying relationship of long duration. They had numerous struggles themselves but found ways to get past them through communication, empathy, empowerment, and equity.

While all the examples aforementioned are not telling of everybody’s condition in society today, the findings mentioned in the article combined with the message of Schism substantiated by live example points to the haloed fact that working, successful, and satisfying relationships are possible and desired. All one needs is communication, agenda setting capability, sensitivity to the other’s feelings, and understanding to flourish.