[Eric Revelin]

I would think the key aspect in any relationship is self-knowledge. A young girl willing to be taught, or who's caught up in her adoration of the older male, is likely ignorant of the workings of her heart and mind and what she really wants. Similarly, an older man who finds a girl like that attractive is likely insecure and craves reverence to compensate for it.

Relationships are bound to fail when they aren't based on an earnest desire for companionship. You've got people who want another person to provide something they feel is lacking in themselves, you've got people who want sex, you've got people who feel pressured (whether by society or family) to get married... Considering that, "duh!' statements as pointed out above aren't so obvious since common sense is forgotten when insanity is the norm.

True love isn't bound by age but true love is more than a passing fancy and a tingling between the legs. The head cannot dominate matters of the heart but it can't be left out of the process either. Logical thinking, self knowledge, and strong feelings are all necessary to make a relationship work. Shortsightedness combined with infatuation and/or insecurity is likely responsible for the high divorce rates we're seeing nowadays.