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 In short, the opinion that divorce is wrong is an outdated one.

When you have a Google News alert for the term "divorce," you get some crazy stuff in your inbox. Most of it gets immediately thrown into the virtual round file, but this recent piece in the Korean Times stopped me in my tracks.

"There may be many factors driving couples to a divorce, but what makes them run out of patience the quickest?" Hmm. Good question.

According to a statistics from the Korea Wedding Culture Research Center, when there's cheating involved, couples tend to hit the courts between seven and eight years post "I do." Family troubles bring the split after 3.7 years and money drama comes in at around 5.9. Drug addiction — drug addiction! Did that really make the list? — causes a split after around 6.6 years, and physical illness comes in at 5.3 years.

Interesting stuff, but what does it mean?

What I took away from it is the fact that people will stay with a crack addict or an adulterer longer than they will stay with someone who has a pain in the ass mother. Crazy stuff, and it makes me realize my mother wasn't so archaic when she told me I wasn't marrying the man, I was marrying his family.

Also noteworthy are the answers from the couples who didn't necessarily get divorced. Apparently, Korean couples lose sexual chemistry with their spouses after three or four years, causing researchers to suggest that Koreans get a three-year-itch to coincide with our seven-year-itch. Who knew?

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Most of us at some point in time have heard the horror stories surrounding child support payments and alimony. You may have experienced it first hand, or perhaps a friend or loved one has become exasperated trying to collect money that is owed to them. But now a recent poll conducted by GFK Roper gives us a better picture of just how many people are affected by lack of support payments.

The poll showed that 24 percent of divorced Americans are supposed to be receiving child support payments, but only a handful of people are actually getting the payments. Only 25 percent of people who are supposed to be receiving alimony actually got the entire amount, 29 percent didn't receive any amount at all and only 17 percent received a partial amount. Perhaps the even scarier statistic is that only 6 percent of people not receiving child support or alimony payments are actually fighting for their rights.

Something has to be done when only 6 percent of people not receiving money owed to them because of a divorce are able to stand up and ask for what they deserve. There may be a few reasons why this is so. I know of a few people who have decided not to go after their ex-spouse because they know their ex does not have the money the court has ordered them to pay. However, this rarely seems to be the case.

Instead, there is a prevalent belief that either the court will not be able to make the ex-spouse pay, or more commonly it is too expensive to go to court in the first place. Because they are not receiving support payments in the first place, many people in this position can't come up with the money to pay for additional court costs and lawyer fees.

Divorce has only been legal in Ireland since 1997. Now that a decade has gone by since it became an option, that nation is beginning to come to grips with it and a funny thing is happening. Life is still going on, and as counterintuitive as this seems to be, the marriage rate has actually risen by more than seven percent.

But more than that, there seems to be a new, progressive attitude about marriage and relationships that is taking root in Ireland. Adults under age 35, especially, are at the forefront of the changes. A recent survey found that 57 percent said it's acceptable for a couple to live together without being married. When the couple in question have children, 49 percent said they were okay with it when the couples had kids — a smaller number, but still pretty impressive considering the short lifespan of divorce in Ireland.

Of course, there is still a debate over whether changing the law has led to a breakdown of family values. But a column I read the other day astutely pointed out that people aren't anti-family, they're simply pro-choice. They want for there to be options, and for a "family" to not be so tightly defined. And they want for those who are so supportive of marriage and family to soften their stance and support "the quality of family life, regardless of what shape or form it comes in."

The column is a good read. You should check it out.

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Earlier this week, I wrote about a British law firm that conducted a survey about divorce. The point of it was to illustrate that few people were aware of mediation services that can help make the process easier and less expensive.

The other day I ran across another statistic from that same survey that really surprised me. Seventy-six percent of the 2,000 people surveyed said they did not consider the prospect of high legal fees a deterrent to divorce. I guess if you want to split up, you're going to do what you've got to do, legal fees be damned. But my instinct was that more people would be intimidated by the costs.

Again the statistic comes from a law firm that's pushing its services, which include the less-expensive option of mediation. But still it's nice to know the cost isn't holding too many people back. It would be a shame if that were the case.

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If you thought marriage was bad here, you should see what's going on in apparently not-so-merry-old England.

According to a survey conducted by a group of lawyers, 59 percent of British wives would divorce immediately if they knew they would not have to worry about their post-divorce financial security. Many — 37 percent — said they were staying in their marriages for the sake of their children, 12 percent said they were in loveless marriages, and 35 percent said they believed their marriages would end up that way.

Now, I'm not sure what to make of these numbers, considering the source. Apparently the law firm that conducted this survey did so after the rash of new divorce cases earlier this month. That, of course, is an annual trend, as many couples wait until the holidays are over before actually going forward with their plans to split up. But my healthy skepticism of the legal profession aside, I don't doubt that these numbers are reflective of the poor state of marriages.

The statistics confirm what many of us who have been through divorce know — money matters are a big deal when you're splitting up. And no doubt there are women and men alike who stay put because they're concerned about not being able to make ends meet on their own.

But perhaps the most startling statistic was that 60 percent were not aware of mediation options that can make the process easier to navigate and cost less. On one hand, you can see the law firm trying to sell its services with that number. But again, it's probably accurate. People get intimidated by the costs and the idea of dealing with the legal system, so they don't pursue a divorce, even if it's what they want to do.