[thoms_a]

What I've found is that building a relationship is like building an orbital spacecraft: there are an infinite number of ways to do this which leads to failure, but very few which leads to success.

Our extant societal memeplex makes it seem like relationships are the default setting, and available to the majority with just a bit of effort. However, this could not be further from the truth in my experience. Very few relationships are successful, and most are in some stage of slow motion RUD. Often, the fallout from a failed relationship is worse than not having been in one in the first place.

There are solutions to this, but they will seem anachronistic to the HN crowd. Turns out that the concept of a marriage is very related to Christmas: it is a religious construct, and as such, cannot be removed from that context. Attempts to do so will more often than not result in immense suffering for all involved.

[Siira]

We, in Iran, have both a Yule (called Yalda here) celebration and the new year Nowruz holidays, none of which are religious.