Response-Marriage

What exactly is marriage? Is it a shiny new ring on your finger or does it actually mean something more? Something beyond life itself? When you’re a little girl, always dreaming about your wedding and pretending to walk down the aisle in your dress, what’s it all for?

As a child I was raised Christian. I was taught that marriage is a special bond between a man and a women. Marriage in my family is very important. As I was taught, when a husband and a wife become married they become one in God’s eyes. In the Bible, Jesus says, “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, expect for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another women commits adultery.” This goes for most people who follow their religion closely. 

  

What about non-religious people? What do they believe in? Is it all about love or is there some under lying thing that they don’t see? Love has a big part in both cultures. In the Bible, marriage is between a man and a woman, not between two people of the same sex. What has come of our society from the earlier ones, why is it so different now?

People are always so happy to get married. They put everything together and then what? Another ring to add to the collection, something to show off to your friends about? Both religious and non-religious people are both happy, but what is there that I and many other don’t see. The woman I babysit for is getting married in a couple of months, but not to the father of her baby. Is the only thing that splits the two groups is when it is okay to have sex and when they cannot?

I believe in the bond between two people, but some think that you have to get married after being together for an extended amount of time. I have been with my boyfriend for almost a year now. We have been in love for some time now, but I don’t want to get married in a few years because it feels like we have to. That is how society has become. Is it because times are changing and people are trying new things, like same sex marriages? Why is it that people don’t like to see younger people, like myself, get married at a young age? What is the difference between now and a few years?

Why is it so important to get married? Why can’t you be with the same person for the rest of your life without being married? Is the only difference the expensive ring, all the money spent on the wedding and the marriage certificate? My boyfriend’s parents have been divorced and his stepfather and his mother are both very happy. My father got married at a young age because he wanted to be loved by someone other than his family. My mother also got married at a young age because all of her siblings where married and she wanted to have someone to show off. They both worked for the same company and then met one another. They then fell in love and had an affair. My father and mother carried that on for a few years until she got pregnant with my brother. They then got divorces and lived with each other for a few years until she found out she was pregnant with me. Together they went to Florida and got married.

Why do some cultures arrange their daughters and sons marriages? Is it right to let your parents decide or to let two people fall in love and married that way? Americans and some other ethnic groups think it is wrong to do that. They believe that fate should decide if two people meet somewhere and hit it off. Whereas the other ethnic groups think that we have it all wrong and that it should be up to the parents to decide who and when they get married. Christians believe that God has a plan for everyone and brings the two together at the right moment. Who decided at what age you can get married at? Why is it frowned upon to get married to a much older person? In some cultures 14 year old girls get married to men in their late twenties or early thirties. In America you have to be at least eighteen to get married and at least sixteen to have sex legally. In the American culture when a young girl wants to get married to a man fifteen years older it is considered wrong. But as the girl becomes older into her twenties it is okay to marry or be with a man that is 15 years older. One of my friend’s parents told me a story of when her ex-husband had graduated college, she had just started kindergarten. When you think about it at that age it seems weird. As adults people don’t think about the age difference.

Why do you have to be married to have children? How does a married couple raise their child differently from a non-married couple? Are their values different from non-married couples, or are they just better because their married? I know of many people who have turned out great and their parents are not married or together anymore. I asked one of my friend’s parents and she said, she did not feel like she had to be married to show that she loved her boyfriend. I have known them for eight years and they have always been happy just the way they are.

In conclusion, what is marriage? An oath between two people, or two people deeply in love, who don’t want to spend their lives without each other? Is it wrong to meet a total stranger and fall in love or have the woman’s parents find a suitable husband for her? Why is there an age limit on when you can be married? If you love someone that dearly, then what is wrong with you spending the rest of your life with them? So tell me, what do you think marriage is?