Best Effort

Marriage is built on ........???  (please fill in the blanks).

My answer would be: love, trust, faith (in the higher powers)

When I was much younger, the initial answer was LOVE (that's all).

As I grew a little bit older, I added TRUST.

Now after the divorce, I had added FAITH.

I think the order should now be swapped too: marriage should be built on FAITH first, TRUST is perhaps optional in some cases (or for some people), and LOVE can develop over time.

Some people are really very lucky to have figured this out much earlier on, in their younger years. And needless to say, they are still married.

On top of that the couples would need ........ ??? (please fill in the blanks again).

My answers (among other things): good communication, financial ability, emotional support, physical attraction, understanding, courage, perseverance, patience, forgiveness, gratitude (and this list goes on and on and on *shriek*)

How then do you make a marriage work?

This one has an easy answer (I think). You make a marriage work because you WANT TO. No one can make anyone stay or love the other if he/she doesn't want to anymore.

There's this person I know who is the kindest, most hardworking, responsible and loving guy I know and he is going through divorce. Who in their right mind divorces someone like that? His wife. I can't imagine why but my only speculation is: due to the long distance relationship she fell in love with someone else. This very thing happened to a very close family friend many years ago. Once I get a chance to interview this guy I would ask him primarily for the reason for divorce. (Because in my case the reason wasn't the real reason).