Many married couples face insurmountable difficulties ranging from: family, friends, finances and co-workers. With all the factors outside the marriage that can cause stress within the marriage, it is more important than ever for a husband and wife to work hard to encourage and support each other. When stress in a marriage is caused not by external factors but by your spouse, the lack of encouragement and support can be devastating; there is such a case in the book Desperation Passes. Malcolm Wade is the "Compliance Officer", or consultant, at CSU for the athletics department. In his role as a counselor, Wade faces a variety of issues ranging from: personal, academic, legal, and sometimes just being a friend. Once again, the reader doesn't have much information – if any – about the actions Brenda took to save her marriage. It is evident that she divorces Wade because of the affair: “The bright side of the photo was that Brenda dumped him for flirting” (Hutcheon 5). After the affair, Brenda had a couple of possible courses of action: divorce or try to work it out. They could have sought a course in couples therapy: "The relationship has not been forgotten, but it serves as a reminder of the need to continually cultivate and strengthen the relationship and to address stress or conflict as it arises" (K.Snyder, Baucom and Gordon 295). Wade's marriage could have been saved if it had been built on a foundation of love and trust. In this particular case, Wade and Brenda were floating, waiting for something to happen that would lead them to the inevitable. Despite this, I believe Brenda felt betrayed: “No matter what disagreements you had, no matter what difficulties you experienced, you didn't expect to suffer through your partner's affair” (K.Snyder, Baucom, and Gordon 206). Brenda probably also wondered what Angela saw in Wade: “The same personal qualities that attracted you to your partner can cause [him] to be pursued by others” (K.Snyder, Baucom, and Gordon 215). Marriage is not to be taken lightly; it is a lifelong commitment that should be one of the most thoughtful decisions in a person's life. Thank God, I haven't experienced Wade and Brenda's problems in my life. Some of the hard parts for me, and I still struggle with some of them, are: I've had to come to the realization that I'm not always right, saying “I was wrong” is one of the hardest things for me to do; The world doesn't revolve around to me: my wife has needs and they need to be taken care of; Sharing – removing the word “my” from my vocabulary. Every day brings with it new challenges and struggles, without which life would be very boring keeping a marriage healthy can sometimes be overwhelming when you factor in outside stresses. There are many things that can trigger an argument, the traffic on the way home could have been horrible or a bad day at work. The trick is to take a step back, try to understand why you are arguing. Important question to ask yourself is: "Is it worth it?" effort. Which brings me to another struggle because I have let things go; It doesn't do me any good to continue an argument after it's over, which only keeps the pot stirring. Listening is one of the most important things in keeping a marriage healthy. I mean, really listen, stop what you're doing, and give your spouse your full attention. I don't know how many times a communication problem with my wife resulted in an argument because one of us wasn't listening to the other. My parents,