Should an Affair End a Marriage? | Male/Female Hour

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I'm calling in, Dennis, because, uh, just yesterday I found out my wife was having an affair for 3 weeks. So I know that it was that long. Um, I found out, uh, she met him through, um, some kind of activity that she had at work and So wait, she met him through, through what?

At work?

Well, they had, they had like a small employee party and stuff, and she met him and they went into a bowling place and she met somebody around there. And, you know, she actually ended up kissing the person. And she— I found out that she went out a couple other times.

You were told this by colleagues of hers, is that it?

No, she told me herself.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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I'm old-fashioned.

I like 2 sexes.

Yeah, and another thing, all of a sudden I don't like being married to what is known as a new woman. I want a wife, not a competitor. Competitor. Competitor.

Talk about a bit this crying in the morning thing, this depression, you know. Let's get that fixed.

That's what men think, isn't it?

What?

Unless you've got the answer, unless you can say, oh, I know this bloke in the Essex Road who could fix that, then there's no point bothering.

How do you write women so well?

I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability.

I love him, I love him, and I don't care what you think. I love him for the, for the man he wants to be, and I love him for the man that he almost is.

What do people have rows about here? Uh, money, sex, sex, money.

He wants, she doesn't want.

She wants, he doesn't want? Women have always been a big problem to me, Dr. Fussbend. Are you listening, Doctor? Yes, yes, yes, go on, go on. Hi everybody, it's the male-female hour. And I hope you missed it during the vacation in Africa. Thought about a lot of new topics, and this is the hour devoted, 1 hour each week, to male-female, men-women issues. They are huge. When I was a kid, it was called the battle of the sexes, and I remember as a kid thinking, what does that mean, battle of the sexes? Aren't men and women supposed to love each other and get along? Well, it's good. As a child, it's good to be naive. As an adult, It's, it's almost criminal. That's the way I look at it. Uh, an innocence in a child is beautiful. Innocence in an adult is not beautiful. But that's a separate subject for another time, maybe an Ultimate Issues Hour. So, hi, my friends. This is Dennis Prager, and I have a very, very sensitive issue. It doesn't get more sensitive than this. There may be equally, but I don't think there are more sensitive. So here it goes. And this is, as many of the Male-Female Hours, it's adult-oriented. But it's certainly okay for, you know, anyway, I think any kid 13 or over to hear, and you make your judgment below that. All right, here it goes, my friends. The topic is when one spouse has an affair. Uh, those of you who have listened to me over the years have heard in different contexts when, when we've discussed micro subjects, and this is one program that discuss— uh, discusses both the micro and the macro, the personal and the social, global, philosophical, political, etc. I have said on many occasions that I think it's a very big mistake for a marriage to automatically end because one of the spouses had an affair. I have always felt that, and I felt that before I ever married, and I feel that today. So this is a lifetime of consistency. I may be consistently wrong, but this is something I've never wavered on. I have never even, well, I don't know, say understood, but I've never accepted the argument. That an affair should automatically— that's the key word here, automatically. There are times when an affair reveals such fractures in a marriage that of course it's going to dissolve. Or as someone, one of the spouses, just repeatedly does it, then, then, then who are you married to? You're married to somebody who keeps making love to other people. I mean, so of course there are times when, when it will. Logically, tragically, but logically lead to the dissolution of a marriage. But I'm talking about a person, let's say you have, I don't know, a 10-year, 20-year, let alone longer marriage, and especially with children. I think it's very unwise to automatically end the marriage because the spouse, and I hold this true for both spouses, for both. There may well be different reasons, and I think there are, generally speaking, different reasons, and sometimes there are the same reasons for why a man or a woman would, would be unfaithful. But I— that's not my subject. My subject is that whichever, if it's the wife or the husband, that it should not automatically end. A man who says, you know, my wife does that, hey, I'm out of here, man. I am out of here. Or a woman says, my husband does that, I'm out of here automatically. I don't care. I don't care how many good years we had. I don't care how much we have made, worked so hard to make a family. That is so wrong. It is so hurtful. It is so trust destroying that I can't go on. And that's the end of the issue. I don't agree with that. Hurtful, trust destroying, all these things. I understand that. That's not, that's not the point. So here is what I would like from you, and I think that listeners would find fascinating, in the best sense of the word fascinating, because it could also be helpful. Here are my questions to you. Number one, has this happened in your marriage and you went on to survive? If you have, in other words, you went on not Personally to survive. I assume people can do that. I mean, your marriage survives. If that has happened, either the wife or the husband has had an affair and you have somehow been able to go on in the marriage and for the marriage to actually not only go on ultimately successfully, but even perhaps better, as I have heard it on occasion, I'd like you to call me. I'd like people to hear if hearing from you who have undergone this is more effective than hearing from me theoretically talk about it. 1-8-PRAGER-776. 877-243-7776. 877-243-7776. 1-8-PRAGER-776. So again, that's one type of call that I want. By the way, if you, if you want to take issue with me, You are more than welcome as well. If you think, I'm sorry, Dennis, it automatically ends a marriage, please call me too. But I'm— there are specific ones I would like, but I'm very— I don't know about the word happy, but I'm certainly welcoming of all calls on this. There's another type of call that I would be very interested in, and that is if you did in fact break up Because of the affair. And now looking back, think, well, maybe that was an error. Maybe I acted too hastily. I was too angry. And I wish I had given it a chance because the truth is he is a good guy who made a mistake or who was weak, or maybe I even had some hand in it, or vice versa. She was a wonderful woman and I let her go. When in fact, that was a big mistake. I was just too angry, or was ego, uh, ego involvement and ego determining? I mean, that's also a possibility looking back if you did break up because— end your marriage because of that. Uh, I, I— every one of my male-female hours, uh, which is each week at this time, is— has one ultimate purpose. There are many purposes, but it has one ultimate purpose, and that is to help your marriages. To help you understand the other sex if you're not married. That— those are the purposes of this, period. You may take issue with my outlook, and I love when I get those calls. Alrighty, let's go to some of your calls immediately, and we'll begin in Santa Clarita, California, and Stephen. Hello, Stephen. Thank you for calling. This is Dennis Prager. Hello, Dennis.

Hello, Dennis. How are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Uh, I'm calling in, Dennis, because, uh, just yesterday I found out my wife was having an affair for 3 weeks. So I know that it was that long. Um, I found out, uh, she met him through, um, some kind of activity that she had at work. And—

So wait, she met him through, through what at work?

They had, they had like a small employee party and stuff, and she met him, and they went into a bowling place, and she met somebody around there. And, you know, she actually ended up kissing the person, and she— I found out that she went out a couple other times.

You were told this by colleagues of hers, is that it?

No, she told me herself.

Oh, interesting.

Because I started getting feelings and Um, you know, I started—

How long are you married?

I've been married, I'm gonna be 6 years in June.

And you are how old?

I'm 27.

And she is your age?

Uh, just 3 years older.

Okay, fine. Oh, that's interesting. You know, I have— this is, you know, not an explanation, but I have a theory about women that at 29, At least American women. I can't speak for all women on earth, but at our time and for a few decades at least, 29 is like a magic age for a woman to undergo tremendous changes and questioning about her life. So it's interesting that you mentioned how old she was. I'm going to talk to you when we come back. Uh, so she told him after 3 weeks. Here, here is a good example of something Where we'll try to work this through. As you know, we don't have all the time in the world on radio, but I would, I would love to speak to her as well, obviously. Anyway, 1-800-PRAGER-776 is the number. You can, of course, get all of my broadcasts downloaded at PragerTopia at either of my websites. We come back.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. This is the Male/Female Hour, every week at this time. And Betty tells me at the, uh, at dennisprager.com that they have just compiled, in time for Valentine's Day, 48 of the shows, commercial-free, highest fidelity on 16 CDs. It's an awesome gift. And it's 800-225-8584, 800-225-8584, or DennisPrager.com. 800-225-8584. And I'm talking to you about the, the affair. The husband or the wife has one. I strongly advocated that that in and of itself should never automatically end a marriage. And, uh, we're— I'm asking for your experiences in this regard. Stephen is 27, his wife is 30. She just told him that she has had a 3-week affair. Okay, Stephen, uh, I, uh, does she want to stay in the, in the marriage?

Yeah, she, um, she feels very, uh, repentful. Uh, we actually have, uh, uh, some friends who are our ex-pastors, uh, who moved. Uh, they're helping us through this. And, um, she feels repentful. She says that she already called them and cut the whole thing off. And, um, you know, we talked about yesterday. I just, uh, you know, it's hard.

It's very hard. It's, it's terrible. Of course, that's, that's, that's why I have to do a show on why it shouldn't automatically end marriages because it is so awful in how the other person feels. Do you, uh, do you, are you willing to work on the marriage with her or do you feel it's over?

No, I really think I'm willing to work it, Dennis, you know, but you know, like today I woke up today this morning after, you know, we talked and everything and You know, in part of me I feel anger, like, you know, I want to get revenge on her, like hurt her back. But, you know, I mean, I guess that's where, you know, my faith comes in.

And—

By the way, that's a very normal reaction. And a lot of times what somebody does is have an affair and say, you know, 2 can do this, not just one. That's a very common reaction. It's a very understandable one. It's not advisable, but it's very understandable. But I'm just happy to know That you don't automatically feel it has ended the marriage. Did she give you a reason, or was it just, you know, I, I got a little wild, or frankly, I'm not that crazily in love at home? Did she give her reason?

Her reason was that she just started entertaining thoughts. And she used to— before I met her, she used to be going out and stuff. And she said the way she, she started missing that, and thoughts were coming back to her head.

The excitement.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. We have to talk about excitement, maybe the happiness hour or not. Well, listen, Stephen, God bless you and God bless your wife, and please continue your, your journey to, to heal. And she has to work on this a lot, and repentance is exactly what's called for. All right, thank you. The, uh, we go to Pensacola, Florida, and Scott. Scott, thank you for calling. This is Dennis Prager.

Yes, sir. How are you doing? This, uh, this is an important topic for me because I've been living this over the last 2 years. And now when you call, I, I like jumped on immediately because I thought it was important to give people in this situation the perspective that I have, at least.

Go ahead.

My situation is my wife and I had been married for about 12 years. We got married very young. Um, I was building my career, very busy. We had 3 children. With the internet being what it is these days, it's easy to find somebody that will fulfill needs that may be not being necessarily met at home. And that's it turns into something much deeper, more physical. And that's kind of what happened in my situation with my wife. Long story short, she sort of ended the relationship but continued in it. We stayed married. My perspective was I knew she loved me.

Wait a minute, she sort of ended the extramarital relationship?

Yeah, and then finally she ended it. You know, after we went to counseling, I wanted to hold on for my boys, and I believed that she was a good person making bad decisions. Um, you know, knowing her background, her issues from her childhood and those things, I viewed the function of this, this affair as a function of mental illness. She made decisions based upon certain issues or, you know, problems that she had that this relationship helped her fulfill. And we went to counseling, we worked it out for the most part. I mean, it's been 2 years since any— there's been any contact. It's done with. But it's still— there's still that, always that You know, every once in a while there's a little something, or there's a— there's a— you go back and it takes so much time to get over this. But yeah.

Do you—

do you—

I'm curious. Well, you do. You have been a man, and I salute you tremendously, as your kids will, uh, one day, if indeed they, they ever know about this. Uh, uh, does, does she act, um, in a remorseful way? Has she shown remorse? Yeah.

And she, the farther the time gets away from it, the more remorseful she is.

Okay.

At first it was kind of a defensive, well, it's all, it's your fault because if you would have done this and you would have done that. But actually, as our time, we've gotten away from the affair, the time, you know, it's more of she starts to realize that how hurtful it was and how destructive it was. But sometimes that natural defense kicks in at first. And so there's a different response than the person who's been cheated on really wants.

So right now, what would you have rated if you called my show prior to the affair, to her affair, uh, and I asked you rate your marriage on a scale of 1 to 10? What would you have rated it prior, a year prior to the affair?

You know, at a year prior to the affair, I thought things were so good I probably would have rated it an 8. I mean, I really believe I got—

Okay, okay, hold on, hold on. In retrospect, what would you rate the marriage a year before the affair?

I would say in retrospect it was probably a 4, and that would be her perspective. Women have a different perspective.

Okay, given both perspectives, what do you, so to speak, if it's not objective obviously, but, but as objective as you can be, what would you rate the marriage knowing her, uh, her reaction and your reaction to it?

I would say a 4 would be a fair—

All right, so fine. Okay, now what, now what would you rate your marriage?

After counseling and a lot of soul-searching and so much pain I can't explain it, I would probably rate it about a 6 now.

So, so in effect, your marriage is better today?

Absolutely. There's more open communication. We can talk about our feelings. If she needs something, I'm more open to trying to listen as opposed to, oh, stop being a needy person, I'm trying to do this job.

Can you—

Now I'm more open.

All right, I'll be very direct as well. Can you make love?

Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Okay, good.

You, you'll, you'll be fine, my friend. I think it's a very powerful call. This is another thing, Alan. I'd like this for another subject. The, the more ironically, the subject, the subject is affairs, but ironically, there was something that came out here that is as important as that subject, if not more. Those who are in a marriage think it's an 8. But it's really a 4. How does that happen? This is a very, very important subject for another male-female hour. I mean, it sounds funny, but in effect, do you overrate how good your marriage is? By the way, just as fair, do you underrate how good your marriage is? Your marriage may be a lot better than you think it is. So it goes, it goes in both directions. And I would do both, by the way, if when we do the subject, I would do both. 1-800-PRAGER-776. The phone number for the 16 CDs is 800-225-8584. We continue.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. I, I hope that These calls, and folks, I can't— I don't determine who calls in, obviously. I mean, I determine which calls I take, but I don't do it with an agenda. I just hope that those of you— and this is the Male-Female Hour for those just tuning in. Every week at this time, we discuss in the most adult way, frankly, this is a good way to use it, male-female relations. Men, women, and the affair within marriage is the subject today. My belief that it should never automatically end a marriage, and I don't downplay the devastation that it entails, believe me. Let's go to Louise in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

Hi, Dennis.

Louise, hi. Where's Mount Laurel?

Uh, southern New Jersey, right across from Philadelphia.

Okay, great. Thank you for calling.

My pleasure. Uh, shall I begin?

Please.

Okay, my husband had an affair, I'd say 25 years ago. We've been together 30 years. Um—

So hold on. So are you about the same age?

Uh, as my husband?

Yeah.

Uh, he's a little older.

So he was about 30 and you were in your late 20s? Is that—

Yeah.

Okay, go ahead.

He had young children.

Right.

And it was a work affair, and he was very much in love with this young girl. And, um, you know, finally, you know, of course there were, there were signs of it happening, and I confronted him, and, um, I have to say the most aggressive attack that I could have put on him was I told him that I could forgive him and that I loved him. And it practically— I mean, he just broke down. And so—

That was your initial reaction?

Yes, it was supernatural, believe me.

Wow, that's quite something. It would have to melt the coolest heart.

Like I said, it was the most aggressive attack that I could have put on him by telling him that I loved him and could forgive him. And I wanted to say that indeed it was very painful. I told the fellow before that I had just lost a brother 3 years prior, and it was actually The affair was actually more painful than the loss.

Yeah, yeah. I believe that. I do believe that.

And also—

How is your marriage today?

It's good. Yeah, it's not perfect, but we're committed. And as a result of that affair, I had another baby. A little boy, and he'll be 25, and he's just been such a blessing to us.

And, um—

Now, what a very interesting thing. You would not have had another child were it not for the affair?

Probably not.

Whoa.

Yes, it was a result of it, a new beginning. And like I said, I had 3 children, and he was my 4th, and, uh—

And he's turned out to be a great blessing.

Oh, oh my, yes indeed.

But what a touching story. God bless you too. Well, that's another thing. We had this author on. Thank you, Louise. You've really— you truly touched my heart. I had an author on. He's in Northern California. I've had him on twice now. He's a therapist and he does marital therapy. What was the name of his book? A Good Enough Marriage? I think that that was very close to the name. He made a very compelling argument for us not to weigh marriage with too much in the way of perfection demands. That, you know, a marriage could be quite good enough without being great. Whatever great would mean. And there are great marriages, I admit it. All right, the, uh, that was very touching, her, her reaction to him. Last thing he must have expected, huh? When you've had a 2-year affair. Well, I just need to know I love you. I just need you to— how'd you do it? It was supernatural. What a touching— and I know what she meant, both objectively and religiously. We continue on the Male/Female Hour. I'm Dennis Prager.

Dennis.

Dennis. Dennis.

Dennis Prager.

Do you have a question you've always wanted to ask Dennis Prager? Well, now's your opportunity. For upcoming Ask Me Anything episodes of Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager, we're inviting you to leave Dennis a voicemail. He'll personally answer selected questions, and your question could be featured on a future episode. Whether it's about faith, morality, politics, history, relationships, happiness, or simply navigating life, Dennis would love to hear from you. Just call 877-243-7776 and leave your question. Oh, and be sure to include your first name and where you're calling from. That's 877-243-7776. While we can't feature every question, Dennis will listen to every voicemail. So call today. You may hear Dennis Prager answering your question on an upcoming episode of Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. And thanks for listening and supporting Dennis Prager.

Hi everybody, you're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. The, uh, the therapist that I was citing was Joshua Coleman, and his book was Imperfect Harmony. What did I— I, I, I knew what it was about, of course, because I remember talking to him and enjoying him. Joshua Coleman, the therapist on these matters. What did I say it was? A Good Enough Marriage. A Good Enough Marriage, yeah, right, which is not the, uh, not the title, of course. It's the subject, but it's not the title. Anyways, Imperfect Harmony. Dennis Prager here. This is the Male-Female Hour, and I'm talking to you about the terribly painful subject of where a husband or wife has an affair and the ability to survive it or inability. I am a big advocate of surviving it if at all possible, that it should not automatically end a marriage. I mean, obviously, where you have a serial polygamist, that's a separate story.

Or—

and by the way, there is something I didn't mention and I will mention.

What?

You know my deepest belief in the levels of— that there are levels of sin. I have spoken about this both theologically and just morally. The notion a sin is a sin is a sin makes no sense to me. I fully admit it. You know, taking some toothpicks, extra toothpicks with you from the restaurant, which you don't need, just is theoretically wrong or wrong, but it's not quite the same as murder. I mean, just the notion of sin is a sin. There are levels of sinfulness. Even if you're an atheist, I'm not talking religiously here. I'm using sin in a secular sense as well as a religious sense. In an infidelity, for example, I'll tell you what is unforgivable or very close. Okay? I don't want to say unforgivable. Because somebody can repent. But what is far worse even than an affair is the humiliation of a spouse.

See, this is—

I want to devote another male-female hour to this notion. See, people think that an affair should lead to automatic— some people do— to the automatic end of a marriage. I don't. And, but it's funny because people would not say that about anything. Oh, they would say it, obviously, wife beating. All right, I agree with that. But aside from wife beating or husband beating, if you will, and an infidelity, nobody says, oh, that's automatic. But I'll tell you, I'll tell you something I think that is worse than an affair. Public humiliation of your spouse. Okay, you may be sexually faithful to your wife or your husband, but if you humiliate them in front of other people on a regular basis, I frankly, I think that's worse. Now, now, you know, I'm sure many differ, and that's— you're certainly, you're right. But, you know, that, that to me is worse. And, and the combination is the worst, where you publicly flaunt your mistress, for example. I mean, that's when you have reached a level of very close to this order automatically ended. OK, let's go to Denver, Colorado, and Alan. Hello, Alan. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. Longtime listener, first-time caller. We've met several occasions, and normally I agree with you 99% of the time, but on this one, I gotta take a little issue.

Well, this is the 1%.

Right.

Okay.

Uh, when an affair occurs, it shows a violation of a commitment, uh, uh, that, uh, as the caller before said, how he was blamed for his wife's affair. Uh, to me, it shows a narcissistic personality. Life is difficult. As the years go by and other stresses and situations come up, a person who's demonstrated that they can structure their own rationale To justify their behavior, if the situation is right down the road, they will do it again. It's sort of like a soldier. You can count on the person on your flank to guard your flank. Once they don't do that and they leave you open to fire, if the going gets rough, they've shown the potential that they can do that again. You can recover from that if you want to drop your expectations. I mean, I come from a background similar to yours, that marriage should be something special and lifelong. Once the partner shows that they're able to go for themselves, so to speak, and to heck with their family, to heck with their spouse, and an affair involves humiliation, given the right circumstances, you look at them and the reality is—

All right, so you show— all right, when push comes to shove, you think it should automatically end a marriage?

Barring extraordinary explanation or circumstances. The trust is gone, and that's what marriage is all about.

Are you a religious man?

Yes, I am. From your background, from the Metropolitan Jewish High School League.

Oh, no kidding!

Yes, from Ramaz.

Oh, blows my mind.

And, you know, Conservadocs, I think.

All right, all right. So, well, then it's interesting, because Judaism certainly doesn't say that that automatically leads to divorce.

Not automatically, but the laws of the Sotah, as I'm sure you're familiar, you know, divorce is up to the male.

Yeah, that's a separate issue.

But there is—

I don't know of a rabbi Is there a rabbi with his head screwed on right, Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform, who would say, oh, you guys are married 15 years, 30 years, and she or he had an affair? Okay, let's arrange the get, let's arrange the divorce.

Not absolutely. My situation was married, an affair early in the marriage, written off to youth, whatever you want to call it, and 29 years later, she drank the Kool-Aid again and the marriage was over in 15 minutes.

Oh, okay. So I was curious where you were speaking from, which I totally understand. It's great to hear from you, Alan. It's not great to hear what you said. It's great to hear from you. Uh, I see. Okay. I would say that for every Alan's experience that 29 years later the wife did it again or the husband did it again, there are equal number of experiences where someone didn't do it again. And so, uh, that's— look, everything is a risk. It's a risk if someone didn't do it. And there are many ways, you see, there's, there's another thing, which is why this is such a big subject. There are many ways to be unfaithful or to wreck a marriage, obviously. And again, I, you know, if somebody offered a typical person, would you like your husband or wife to have a, you know, a brief affair and otherwise, you know, and stop it? and otherwise treat you beautifully, or somebody who's constantly putting you down so you never have an affair. This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. The one-time affair. We'll be back in a moment. This is the Male-Female Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. By the way, I must, uh, remember to bring into the show an email from a man. Had a terribly frustrating, sexually frustrating marriage. Gave his wife without comment, just, would you read Dennis Prager's 2 pieces, 2 columns on when a woman is not in the mood, not in the mood. And he said it turned their lives around. I'll read it. Obviously it'll be anonymous, but I'll read it to you next male-female hour. That's, uh, that's why I do these things. And boy, do I stick my neck out on those things. I mean, the attacks on me on the internet, I mean, including people— I, I, you may have heard I had people on the show whose blogs, big left-wing blogs, would say that I advocated marital rape because I thought that, that a woman shouldn't rely just on mode— on mood, uh, to, uh, to make love to her husband if he's a good man, which I kept stressing this only applies to if you're married to a good man. Anyway, uh, the last, uh, these, uh, these calls I hope are also, are also helpful to you. Let me, uh, don't hang up anybody. Let me summarize as many as I can. Diana in Tampa, when I was 20, she's now 44, my husband had an affair. It took 6 years until my husband realized what he had done, but we made it through now 25 years. God bless you both, and certainly you, Diana. Anita in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. My husband, military, was injured and had to stay home more often. We cherished each other less afterwards, and he had an affair. We divorced and then remarried. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. God, would I like to hear that one, Anita. 62, West Hills, California. Married 42 years. At 10 years into marriage, we both admitted affairs. I told her to bring him over to say I'm done, but she told him she was done with him and they're still married now, 42 years. To those of you who automatically— this is what I didn't get a chance. I mean, the lines filled so quickly. I want— we're going to do this once. If you did break up automatically, are you happy you did? Okay, that's— and you can write me as well, of course. I love reading your emails. Marriages can thrive even after infidelity. I went through multiple affairs, but through religious counseling, we're thriving. We made it through adultery. I lost my wife to someone who was smiling at work all the time. I had to look at myself and improve myself first. God bless you, because, you know, unless you're married to a real jerk There often is a reason, partial reason, that you're responsible too for somebody doing that.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

Hi everybody, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show. The music might be actually familiar to a fair number of you in the Southern California area because one of the most successful talk show hosts in America, now a podcaster, one of the most successful podcasters in America, is Larry Elder. And I know Larry— it's very touching for me to have Larry on my show because I brought him to radio and he became a national sensation. And not only in broadcasting and podcasting, but also in writing. If you read his column each week, you will get an education. And I say this, obviously people I'm telling you, I'm telling you with total sincerity. And he and I used to work on the same station many, many years ago in Los Angeles. Maybe many of you know Larry Elder. Larry Elder— what do they call it? They call it full disclosure. Full disclosure, I am a friend, good friend of Larry Elder, and we have been for many years. We were radio colleagues on the same station in LA for many years, then I moved over.

I know.

to the Salem Radio Network, and things have been wonderful and a blessing since. Larry's show is one of the most popular in Southern California, a very difficult place to have a popular show because people live in their cars in Southern California, and it's the— it's really the center of talk radio and just a household name. Larry and I— when do we go back to? What year?

I would say we probably go back, Dennis, to around 1990. Around 1990. When I first met you, when you were in Cleveland, I picked you up from the airport, you might remember.

No, but we met before that.

Right, we met even before that on a program called—

Oh, that's right, that's right!

I was sitting in—

Wait a minute, who's being interrupted now? I'm just asking! I'm just asking! This is just a question!

Yeah, but you're offended and I wasn't, that's the difference. I am not easily offended. Yeah, go ahead.

So I'm a thin-skinned black guy who's easily offended, is that what you're saying? You mean I'm being racially profiled on the Dennis Prager Show, I am shocked, and I am appalled.

You—

he—

see, that's the thing. The man plays the race card like that. It doesn't even— you could be talking—

Don't leave home, Dennis. Don't leave home without it. Honestly, I never leave home without it. I get my license, I get my race card, Social Security card, and I'm out the door.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we work, communicate, and live. The question isn't whether AI will shape our future, The question is how. That's what makes Carbon Zero such a fascinating read. Author Craig W. Stanfill isn't just a novelist, he's an AI pioneer who's taken today's rapidly advancing technology and imagined where it could lead if we're not careful. I have my copy and I got to tell you, I can't put it down. Carbon Zero combines suspense, believable technology, and thought-provoking questions about freedom, responsibility, and the unintended consequences of letting machines make decisions that affect all of us. It's a great thriller with lots of action, but it's also a story that stays with you long after you've finished the last page. Carbon Zero, available for pre-order now, and for a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99 for my audience. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during the pre-order time now. Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill.