P023

Passage 23 Jealousy

The experience of jealousy varies enormously from age to age, from culture to culture, from couple to couple, from person to person, and can be different within the same person from time to time. In the United States, there has been a change of attitude toward jealousy in recent years. ―Normal‖ jealousy, which has been seen as an inevitable accompaniment of love and support of marriage, has come to be seen by some as evidence of personal insecurity and weakness in the relationship, and therefore a threat to the partnership.

Most jealous flashes come from feeling left out of an activity involving your partner and another person or other people. When your partner pays attention to another, your first reaction is to note that they are ―in‖ and you are ―out‖. You feel excluded, ignored, unappreciated.

This kind of experience is not uncommon, and dealing with it gracefully is part of the etiquette of our time.