The Czechs incapable of love

Fewer couples got married last year in the Czech Republic than ever before. According to the national statistics office, marriages last just 12 years on average, and one in two marriages ends in a divorce. For the liberal daily Pražský deník a regrettable trend: "The marriage decline shows how our priorities are changing. We're now after casual relationships. There are no conventions or economic reasons compelling us to get married, and a stamped piece of paper is no guarantee that a relationship is going to last. ... Behind people's reluctance to found a family lurk calculation, a reluctance to share and an inability to love. Above all it's the children who pay the price. But solidarity between the generations is also dwindling. Egoism is gaining ground, as is the number of excluded and lonely. We are no longer ready to live for each other, to make sacrifices or to to be there for one another for better or for worse. A society that is based on egoism is however not free but flawed."

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