Marriage As Image-Enhancer

In all the analysis over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's failed marriage, I've come to the realization that a public, high-profile separation is actually a lot like your average breakup.

Sure, for politicians and otherwise famous figures, there's the uniqueness of a national, and sometimes international audience, plus the fact that elections and multimillion dollar movie contracts could be impacted by the split.

But, listen to how Canada's Globe and Mail describes political marriage in the context of Sarkozy's situation: "Marriage is an extension of the leader's image. It speaks volumes about character traits that are otherwise inscrutable or absent."

To a slightly lesser degree, I'm sure this applies to anyone. We all have images to uphold, both in our professional and private lives. When separation and divorce rear their ugly heads, it forces a person to question not only how their image could be affected, but their true identities as well.

The paper goes on to say, "A strained and unhappy marriage is better than divorce for a political career. The optics of divorce are damning: The one person who knows the leader of the country more intimately than anyone else has lost faith in him."

Again, such an occasion could just as easily inflict serious emotional and psychological damage on any of us. And, again, it's not only others' perceptions that can cause harm. When faced with divorce, we all have to ask ourselves a difficult question: How could the one person who knows me better than anyone else have lost faith in me?