Weber State College Comment, April 1986. page 1 40-SO % of foday’s marriages will end in divorce Relationships must be nurtured feet, is perhaps majestic waterfowl. our University. He currently teaches art at Bonneville most ‘States. While In 1932, a horseback census of the western United States estimated that only 69 birds remained. At that time, a major program was established to protect these en dangered Trumpeter Swans. Winter| feeding programs and _ protected | refuges helped to turn the decline around. What man began to destroy and endanger, has now been protected and nurtured. Today it is estimated that there are over 10,000 Trumpeter | | | | Swans. National statistics suggest that families and marriages are also being endangered and destroyed. Between 40 to 50 percent of todays marriages will end in divorce. Marriage is no longer something we can sit back to observe how it will end, together or divorced. We must protect and nurture our rela- tionships. The Trumpeter Swan can| become a symbol of what can be done when people devote themselves to nurturing healthy relationships. David W. Jackson, M.F.A., has captured the majestic Trumpeter Swan in his painting titled “Freely Committed.” Jackson received his B.A. in art from WSC and his M.F.A. from Utah State . Ogden. at Weber State, Jackson met Randy Chatelain and they developed a close and ongoing relationship as fellow students. Chatelain went on to complete his doctorate in marriage and family therapy at BYU and is now an assistant professor of family relations at WSC where he teaches Marriage, ting the Trumpeter Swan was _ prohibited, but still their population decreased. They became the symbol of wilderness. in in both oil and watercolor. He has also broadened his creative expressions into wildlife sculpture. As a professional artist, Jackson’s work is displayed in fine art galleries throughout the United dangered species. Around the turn of the century, hun- vanishing School Jackson is best known for his landscape, wildlife, and western paintings Early American explorers recorded observing flocks of Trumpeter Swans that numbered in the thousands. As pioneers moved west, they hunted these birds and destroyed their natural habitat until they became an en- the High The Family in Stress, and Family Processes. Using the “Freely Committed” painting of the Trumpeter Swans by Jackson, Dr: Chatelain has created a direction without having to be identical. 2. Freely committed:Although are separate individuals, they Trumpeter Swans have a stable relationship and presentation titled “Freely Committed: choose to mate for a Seven Essential Qualities of Successful Relationships.” The presentation uses the painting as a metaphor to teach the following seven principles: 1. Respect individuality and nurture individual strengths: Each swan must tionship is of choice, not bondage, for carry his/her own weight. They fly ina “V" formation so that each bird has its own undisturbed air space. In the painting, one bird has its wings up while the. other has its wings down, symbolizing how they can fly in the same lifetime. The rela- it would be so easy to lose one another in the vast skies of the earth. Commitment is the stable foundation from which relationships grow. 3. Common values, goals, direction and purpose: Swans often arrive at their nesting sites before the ice melts, yet immediately begin to build their nest. They know their purpose and must work together to hatch the eggs Please see “Relationships” on page 11. —_— he Trumpeter Swan, with a body length of nearly eight