I pasted and saved this one

From Craigslist's LTR forum:

A question, perhaps rhetorical, you decide. < seeker0075 > 04/23 22:58:07

When do we stop thinking about deal breakers and start thinking about forever?

I noticed that some (not all, just some) posts in here often garner a response along the line of "Get a divorce (break up, what have you) this is a deal breaker for me..." regardless of the length of the relationship. My wife and I have had a great relationship (not anything for the record books, but pretty awesome in both of our opinions) and I think part of the reason is that we don't think in terms of what isn't allowed, what isn't acceptable, what we will not tolerate, what is an absolute deal-breaker; but more along the lines of what we can do to overcome the next obstacle, how we can improve on what we've done already, what goals we'd like to build toward, what things are deal-makers.

I can't help but think that the amount of negativity that I have seen from people actually in LTRs on this forum would eventually poison any relationship that a person is in. I understand that sometimes people have off days, I'm not talking about the negative comments that sort of catch people off guard because they're out of character, I'm talking about the negative comments that are given consistently. So back to the question: When do people go beyond the point where they stop thinking about marriage (and LTRs) as a temporary state of affairs and start thinking of it as something that is worth working on because it should last forever?

I'm quite sure it depends on the person and the relationship and a million other factors... Like I said it may just be a rhetorical question, but I think it's a question each person in a LTR should ask themselves. I believe that if more people asked themselves this sort of question we'd have far less posts in here about petty arguments and whether or not it is okay to cheat, throw things, expect someone to do something for you that you aren't willing to do, etc.