Marriage In a Bottle

In a USA Today article published today I read that scientists are trying to prevent military suicide. In a 50 million dollar study they have discovered that suicide rates increase in combat situations among unmarried soldiers, but not among married ones. I applaud them for their good intentions, but disagree with their thinking. Here is a quote from psychiatrist Ronald Kessler--a contributor to the article:

One of the things we're interested in now is digging into this marriage thing and saying, 'What is it you get, by being married? And how could we put it in a bottle so we can give it to everybody, whether or not they're married?'

I'm sorry, Mr. Kessler, there's nothing you can give me: pill, drink, injection or otherwise that can substitute for my wife, Amy. My guess is that G.I.'s will take the gun away from their heads only if they can be convince that they matter to someone else--someone with real flesh and blood. Do we really need to flush 50 million dollars to figure these things out? I think I'm going to get my kids busy writing letters to soldiers. These heroes need to know they matter to God and us as well.

Link to the USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-03-18-1Asuicides18_ST_N.htm