Being a single man who is very seriously considering the idea of tying the knot, I got an insight last night on the concept of how the grass is not always greener on the other side. For three hours and a few minutes, I hung out with two very dear friends (one male and one female). 95% of the time was spent discussing the whole concept of marriage (5% was spent on trying to explain to the waiter, Mohammed, that it was OK if he spoke Arabic to us). The reason my friends brought up the subject was not that they were unhappily married, god forbid. They were now happily divorced; with kids; or at least that’s what they claimed. Between the both of them they had a combined eleven years and two months of marriage.  According to them, 75% of this time was spent in misery. My male friend insisted that more than 55% of marriages end in divorce and that he was mainly a victim of statistics. My female friend cited that 59% percent of married men cheat on their wives (others put this number at a much higher value) and although she had entered the marriage with a 90% certainty, she had approached divorce with 99% certainty.

Amid the assertion on how happy they were now, I could not help but notice how cynical and bitter my friends had become when it came to defining the other sex. Was I going to end up this way, I asked myself, and what differentiates me from these two loving, caring, smart, and well intentioned beings. The only way I will find out the answer is to play the game. Count me in….80%.... I think.