I was shocked. I stared at the first sentence and thought, "What is wrong with this world?"

"Alarming." That word tripped my whole reaction. "An alarming 70 percent," the news report began.

Yes, it's true. 70% of the American population thinks that divorce is morally acceptable, according to Gallup's 2008 Values and Beliefs survey.

Oh, I'm not shocked at the statistic or large figures. I'm not upset that people think it's okay to get divorced. Divorce doesn't compromise my personal morals in any way.

I was shocked because some poor news reporter out there hadn't hailed the 21st century along with the rest of us.

Aaron Leichman claimed that the statistic of 70% was an alarming number. What's alarming about the majority of people believing that it's acceptable for two people to end a relationship? I get the feeling that Aaron was one of the 30% of the people polled that day.

Ask the people who suffer emotional, physical or financial abuse in a relationship whether they believe divorce is an acceptable moral choice. Ask the people who live hollow relationships or simply co-exist with a stranger in the same house whether they believe separating is immoral.

Immoral means a deliberate violation of the rules between right and wrong. Is it a violation to say, "Oops, I made a huge mistake. Help, please?" Is it a terrible moral conflict to say, "I'm sorry. I fell out of love. I don't want to cheat you or me at a chance to be happy."

Of the other 16 ethical issues covered in the Gallup pole, divorce breezed right on through. No issues, really.

The 30% that believe divorce to be an immoral act are those who identified themselves as conservative, religious or over 65. In short, the opinion that divorce is wrong is an outdated one.

Now here's something smart: If a man keeps on having sex with his wife, he can't get a divorce.

So says Additional District Judge (ADJ) Atul Kumar Garg of New Delhi, India, in a recent ruling after a man sought separation from his wife for cruelty (she refused to carry out household chores) and misdemeanor.

I'm right behind the judge on this one.

We often hear of a man or woman complaining about their spouse, yet the fun in the bedroom still seems to be going on. If two people truly can't get along in a relationship, one would assume that there's no need to continue the affairs between the sheets.

Garg agrees. "Continuous cohabitation with the wife shall amount to condonation of the act of cruelty complained of and condonation in matrimonial cases means complete forgiveness of the act,"stated ADJ Garg when he laid down his ruling.

The act of divorce should be representative about two people who have no love or desire to live with each other. They shouldn't get along. They shouldn't be sharing intimate moments. It just doesn't make sense.

Jasbir Singh is the plaintiff requesting the divorce, and this is his second attempt to have the divorce approved by a court of law. He'd requested a divorce previously in 2003 — that didn't work, but obviously the relations between Singh and his spouse still did.

Now, five years later, Singh has had his divorce petition turned down again. Shall we all stay tuned for round three?

Perhaps the next time he seeks official separation, Singh will put chances on his side and stay away from temptation. It might help his credibility a touch.

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Men are hit harder by divorce. So says Statistics Canada after performing a 10-year study on the effects of divorce on both men and women.

It makes sense. Women tend to think long and hard over their decision to instigate a divorce. A psychologist once told me that women take up to seven years to decide on whether to divorce their husband or not — and that once the decision is made, there's usually no going back.

Most men seem surprised when they hear the announcement of the desire for divorce. "I never realized... I didn't think it was that bad... Divorce?" They're shocked. They haven't taken time to contemplate whether divorce is the answer.

The StatsCan study also mentions that men suffer from higher rates of depression — the rate for depression was six times higher that of women.

This too, is understandable. Women have greater support systems of friends and family. They have emotional backup to help them deal with the effects of a divorce.

Women also tend to become the main caregiver if children are involved. They have companionship, responsibilities to maintain and duties to uphold. The men? They're left with an empty home, a lack of people, and only their feelings to deal with.

It's a painful situation. Solitude, isolation, a lack of support...It sounds like a good recipe for depression to me.

However, StatsCan didn't offer much backup for the causes of the post-divorce depression rates in men. The governmental agency didn't correlate custodial losses or change in parental responsibilities as being the issue to blame.

Common sense, though? I think so. Divorce is difficult for anyone to face. The thinking patterns, life changes, and ways that men tend to cope with emotional situations offers plenty of reason for increased rates of depression.

Alright. You think we have divorce problems in the U.S.? Try having to divorce two wives at once — literally.

The Economic Times recently reported the difficulties of a Malaysian businessman, Roslan Ngah. The poor guy had two wives (not one, but two) — and they'd become friends.

The two women also collectively decided that Ngah just wasn't cut out to be husband material. I guess that left him out in the cold, didn't it?

Even worse was that the media, advised of the impending Malaysia history-breaking event by Ngah himself, thought the man was pulling an April Fool's prank.

They didn't believe him.

It's tough not to feel for the guy. After all, both wives played schoolyard bully, ganging up on Ngah to inform him of their wishes for a double-shot divorce, and the media thinks he's a joker.

That has got to hurt the self-esteem.

Roslan Ngah presented his divorce via the short messaging system (or SMS for short). All it took was one word for each woman — talaq — and the deal was done. Ngah's new ex-wives showed nothing out of the ordinary, both women appearing calm and composed.

This was Ngah's third departure from trying for a happy marriage (or is that marriages?). He had a prior relationship with another woman, but the couple separated in 2004.

Ngah was asked if he'd remarry. "If my fate says so," Ngah replied, "I have no qualms." If divorce is that easy, then it's no wonder he's not worried. But Ngah had something more to add. "This time," he said, "I hope that my marriage will last forever."

With a three-time track record at failed relationships, it doesn't look likely.

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The Economic Times ran an article recently on how Muslim men and women might soon have equal rights. It seems that the All India Muslim Women Personal Law board wants to instate some western culture into an eastern world through the "Shariat Nikahnama." Good for them.

The board wants to overrule divorce carried out through SMS, e-mail, and video conferencing.

Hold up here... People in New Delhi can divorce via email? "Hi. I'm divorcing you. Signed, your new ex-husband." Um, yeah.

On the other hand, why is this such a bad thing? From what the media tells me, women are treated pretty shabbily in many places of the world, to say the least. There are countries where stoning is legal and where exposing a cheekbone or an ankle results in punishment.

In fact, the article quoted Shaista Amber, the AIMWPLB president as saying that the "Shariat Nikahnama" would entitle a woman to separate from her husband if there was any kind of ill treatment or torture.

Torture? Hold up again. Wouldn't it be smarter to make torture against the law first?

Here's my line of thinking: If a man tortured me and wouldn't have to live up to any consequences, I'd be firing up the laptop pretty fast for that quickie divorce a la email. "Which account would you like to use, honey? I'll set it up for you... would you like me to write it out and you just hit send?"

The other 90 percent of the proposed changes perfect sense, and they'd allow women to divorce after the discovery of an affair, a lack of family support, bad treatment and more. They're all perfectly justifiable reasons. Women should be allowed to part ways with someone who blew the concept of marriage out the window.

I came across an article by Bill Sanders from Cox News Service today. Published at Newsobserver.com, Bill's article puts a face on divorce — a very young face.

Sanders wrote about Bill Sears, a 16-year-old so scarred by the experience his parents put him through that his life will never be the same.

At seven, Bill's parents split up and he become judge, jury, psychologist and counselor to two fully grown, supposedly mature adults. That's so wrong that I can't even begin to put my thoughts in words.

Bill put his experience to good use and opened billsarena.com, a website devoted to educating both parents and children on divorce. It's pretty obvious the adults in his life (and in the lives of many other kids) needed the advice and the help.

I say, "Good for Bill for taking a hugely negative experience and turning it into a positive, helpful resource."

I also think, "Shame on Bill's parents for exploiting him so badly that they traumatized him so deeply."

I'm separated — twice. My first child distrusts men, doesn't have any interest in boys (and she's a thriving, beautiful teen) and doesn't want me to have relationships with anyone. We dealt with our separation poorly, and she suffered.

My second daughter is happy and well adjusted. She has no fears, thinks that most people live in separate houses and knows that family is who you love, not who you live with. We handled our separation all the right ways with her.

So if you're planning a separation or a divorce, maybe you should stop and think twice before you act, especially if you have kids. Deal with the situation properly and as painlessly as possible — not for you, but for your children.

Who would've thought that doing laundry, washing dishes, picking up dirty clothes and vacuuming could be the answer to a woman's marital problems? But wait, it gets even better: For a happy marriage, the person doing the housework should be the man.

The Council on Contemporary Families' released a recent summary report of some studies, and the suggestion that housework lowers divorce rates is right there in black and white.

It's about sex. The deal is that we trade off some nookiage in the bedroom with our husbands in exchange for a little housework. Apparently, it works.

Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework, suggests this: "Equitable sharing of housework can lead to a happier marriage and more frequent sex."

Really? Is that so?

Ah, but Joshua's sneaky... "If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her - he's not treating her like a servant." Sounds like some psychological strategy to get a little booty. But come on, girls. We always knew that "I love you" really meant, "Are you naked yet?"

The bigger question is, though: Does it work? Can you really trade off sex for housework and have a better marriage?

Yup, sounds like it. Coleman reports, "If a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood." Um, no kidding, Coleman.

But I'll tell you something. If I had a husband, and he cleaned my house until it sparkled while I lazed on the sofa watching Brad Pitt movies, I wouldn't mind a little playtime between the sheets.