Secrets of Lasting Love, Application Essay Example

Niema Jordan states that statistics and media has almost convinced us to give up hope of an everlasting marriage but couples can achieve lasting happiness by following certain rules. These seven rules have been discovered and shared by happy couples who have been together for as long as more than eight decades.

The first rule is to make sure that both partners are aware of each other’s expectations and can agree upon common goals. Any differences should be sorted out through communication rather than avoided. The second rule is to treat the partner as best friend and give him/her the respect he/she deserves. The third rule is to support each other’s dreams and goals and not act selfish by focusing on personal wishes only. The fourth rule is to keep the relationship interesting by being creative and trying out new things. Relationships are also threatened when the partners get bored with each other. The fifth rule is to give time to the partner and make him/her feel valued and appreciated. The couples can strengthen their relationship by just being thoughtful and doing small chores for each other. The sixth rule is to manage finances efficiently and take joint responsibility to ensure financial security. The seventh and the last rule is to ignore small issues, engage in open communication with each other, and respect each other’s opinions even if one may not agree with the opinions.

The author’s intended audience for this article are those couples that are planning to get married or are already in marital relationship but these advices may also be followed by other couples who desire or may already be in stable relationships outside marriage. The primary strength of the article is that it gives common sense and easy-to-understand suggestions. The article has several lessons for the couples one of which is the importance of communication. The couples should always keep lines of communication open and tackle any problems or conflicts on a priority basis. Another lesson is the importance of compromise because the partners in a marital relationship are two individuals with distinct personalities and they will not always have same goals, same opinions, or same values. Thus, the partners should respect each other’s individuality and not let the differences overcome their love and admiration for each other. The article also teaches us that successful marriages are not the outcome of luck but active efforts by both partners. The couples have to continue to work to make their marriage work.

Overall, the article was a good effort but there is always a room for improvement. First of all, the article didn’t provide any information to the readers which could help them determine the effectiveness of these suggestions. For example, the reader doesn’t know how many couples were surveyed for the purpose of this article and what proportion of them supported the suggestions made in the article. From the article, it seems that only few couples were interviewed and the experiences of these couples might have been outliers. Another shortcoming of the article is that it is not clear whether these suggestions are applicable to a single race or culture or all of them. It is also possible that the article failed to take into account generational differences and what might have worked for older generations may not work for current generations.

Overall, Niema Jordan has made a good effort by giving common sense advices that can be applied to almost every relationship and not just marital relationships. The article has been written in easy-to-understand language though few things such as statistics could have made the article even more persuasive.