I Believe In The Sanctity of Marriage
Yes; I'm a firm believer in the sanctity of marriage which is why I'm happy not being married. This is not a knock on my significant other, but a realistic look at engagement and marriage in today's society. With high divorce rates, people are faster to abandon a marriage. Men will blame it on the fact that women have more rights and better economic standings. Women might even agree citing the fact that most women probably wanted to leave marriages in the past. but were unable to do so because they had no means. What we see is divorce slowly became less taboo. In society today, when someone mentions a divorce no one really bats an eye.
Divorce isn't the only scar on the sanctity of marriage. Marriage, itself, is a scar on the sanctity of marriage. People are getting married for all the wrong reasons and with all the wrong expectations. People are getting married for looks and for money. Some people want to have the storybook wedding, the house with the white picket fence, and 2 and a half kids. Some people feel pressured by society to get married because it is the "right" thing to do. People expect that there will never be any arguments and, therefore, do not prepare themselves mentally or spiritually for them.
I believe that the sanctity of marriage is lost in dating. We have been conditioned to put on a front when we initially start dating someone. A majority of people are really nice and extra giving in the courting phase. You spend loads of time with your significant other and you discuss the future in puppy love terms. You have both fallen in love with idea of the other person, but (more than likely) not the real person. It takes YEARS to truly know someone. And yet people are in such a hurry to move through each phase in life that they ignore the red flags. Dating should be a slow process and it should be a real process. Never go into dating thinking that you need to impress the other person. When you show the real you, you allow someone to fall in love with the real you.
Does anyone marry for love these days? I don't mean that sappy "this is my life partner. He's perfect in every way. He can do no wrong." BS. I mean love - where you know and accept someone's flaws. (Side note: I do not qualify cheating and physical abuse as "flaws" that you should accept.) But here is the reality, you WILL make each other mad. You WILL disagree on things. You WILL get on each other's nerves. I believe that understanding this and learning to both work through it is the key to marriage.
The trend is starting to swing towards people getting married later in life and I applaud this. Have fun. Learn about yourself. And then, make a commitment to someone you love.
