At first, all appeared to be otherwise. In the wake of the Lewinsky scandal, the Gore marriage was touted as the strong and loving one, compared to the rocky Clinton sexual-political imbroglio. But appearances can be deceiving.

The solid Gore marriage was supposedly exemplified by the "long kiss" at the Democratic convention, but in retrospect the Gore kiss turned out to be more like "the long goodbye."

After losing in 2000 Gore was hard to pity. He still had his media interests and his global warming travelling carnival that eventuated in his winning the now reliably anti-American Nobel Peace Prize. Things were proceeding apace.

The Gore's grown children were getting good jobs, getting married and producing grandchildren. It wasn't life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but who could complain?

Yes, Mr. Gore was on the outs with the Clintons. Yes, he occasionally screamed when giving speeches about the Iraq War.

Yes, he still spoke as if his audience was either deaf or in kindergarten, or in nursing homes or dumb.

Yes, his business dealings in the climate change area seemed to end up non-profit for tax purposes and profit for the Gore bank account. But things were not that bad. Until a year or two ago. Then the Gore brand began to suffer. The global warming "scientific certainty" mantra began to unravel. The famous "hockey stick" was shown to be a fraud.

A British judge ruled that British school children could not view "An Inconvenient Truth" without nine errors of fact in the movie being disclosed. Then the UN IPCC climate-change panel was shown to be politically rather than scientifically motivated. Disappointment over Copenhagen, and the "Climate-gate" e-mail scandal followed in rapid succession.

Furthermore, public consensus over the "settled science" began to erode significantly. But even then, was Al Gore suffering anything other than the usual "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," occasional events that wash over larger than life public figures? Surely, a long life in public office had prepared him to weather this, didn't it? Apparently not.

On June 1st, the Gore's released a brief announcement that "after a great deal of thought and discussion, we have decided to separate. This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together..."

It sounded like two business partners breaking up, the wooden man with the wooden break-up announcement.

Within a couple of weeks their daughter Karenna Gore Schiff also separated from her husband. They have three small children. America protested in disbelief. Not the Gores?

One commentator even wondered out loud, "if the Gores can get divorced then any of us can." Now I do not know the Gores and I know nothing of their private lives. Nor do I want to add insult to their very personal and difficult injuries. But there are some things we can learn from their marriage break-up that have nothing to do with private speculation.

These principles may have been raised by the Gore's situation, but they are certainly not confined to it. By the way, don't expect many in the mainstream press to report or reflect on this because the Gore's are lefty's and the media usually confines itself to conservatives who fall short to work the "hypocrisy" angle.

The media's view is that liberals have every right to fall short and be left alone. (Sigh) In spite of this, what can we learn?

Divorces just don't happen out of nowhere.

They are usually, but not always, caused by a series of decisions that make it more likely. Mostly, these decisions involve spending large amounts of time apart, to say nothing of the sexual temptations which can eventuate. Marriages can be both fed and starved. Lengthy time apart makes any marriage vulnerable and it is clear the Gores failed to make choices to remedy this or to stop it when they saw what was happening. Why didn't they? Was there nothing there to save?

Public success can often become a net negative for marriage.

Why? Because outward recognition, power and money feed the outward and superficial aspects of our personalities and give many an insatiable hunger for "more everything." (Seinfeld) This isolates us from our real selves and our spouse. It divides our loyalties. We become perpetually unhappy especially while the interior beast of "more" demands his due.

Divorce is a cancer in families.

Like adultery, which is always most difficult to commit the first time, divorce gets into families and spreads, making it a viable choice for succeeding generation's marriages.

It is instructive that Karenna Gore announced her separation shortly after her parent's. The best thing any married couple can do for each other is eliminate the "d" word from any argument, or as one couple explained, "we never considered divorce, ever. Murder maybe, but not divorce." This week, the Southern Baptist Convention went on record condemning their own church family's divorce plague which they called "spiritual wreckage."

Public displays of affection can often be compensations for inner conflict.

People wonder, "How could the Gore's kiss like that at the Democratic Convention and then divorce?" May I suggest that the Gore display was engaged in precisely because their marriage was not strong? I don't know this. I suspect it.

Just as President Clinton's strong denunciation, "I did not have sex with that woman" turned out to be the opposite, so perhaps the Gore kiss was too. Psychologists call it "compensation." Humans are often quick to send a public message that may be the opposite of the private reality.

What you believe matters a great deal in marriage.

Do you believe that this life is all there is? Or do you believe that you are accountable to God for your choices and that when you die there will be a place of glory and fulfillment far beyond what this life can give?

Yes, I know the statistics about Christian marriages having the same divorce rate as others. I am talking about what you really believe in your gut when you wake up at 3am. What you stake your life on. The Apostle Paul wrote that "if Christ is not risen", then we should "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."

I would bet anything that Mr. Gore had a belief system about his future that made leaving his wife much easier. I could be wrong. I will leave it at that.

Marriage is designed as a long-term investment.

God meant it to work like any other long-term investment. There are ups and downs in the short-run, but the pay-off for not selling is very great.

I have been married for 31 years and hope to be married for at least 61. Our three children are the great blessing of our lives. But even if we had none, our marriage itself would be the greatest. There is nothing to replace the shared history, the knowing smiles, the prayerful nights, tearful moments and sheer adventure of marriage. Yes, there are tough moments of forgiveness, getting back on track when things go awry, and bearing up under our own and our spouse's human failings. But may I say, it is absolutely worth it. C.S. Lewis once said that "an ordinary marriage is far more interesting than the most torrid love affair."

He was right. What endures is best. I am sad the Gore's apparently did not believe this enough to continue their long investment in each other. I hope many others will choose to treasure what they already possess and take the steps to nourish and protect the sacred gift of marriage, both for its own sake and for the world's. We need it now more than ever.

-----Jay Haug is a free-lance writer living in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.