Once upon a time...a time not too long ago...marriage was a necessary part of society. 1) You needed a man and a woman to make a baby. 2) You needed a man to work to provide financial sustenance. 3) You needed a woman to take care of the children and the home (cook & clean).
These days everything is different. 1) Just about anyone can adopt a baby (male, female, single, married, gay, straight). You can also make a baby in a lab and transfer it to any number of carriers. 2) Woman can now work outside the home and become equally as successful as men. 3) With more money coming in, nannies and housekeepers can be employed to rear our children and clean our homes.
Now each of these things is not a bad thing. Actually, most of them are quite positive strides for society as a whole. BUT, working together, they are making marriage less and less necessary for survival in this day and age. Why get married (or stay married), if you don't need it?
So what is the answer? I'm not sure.
I've been thinking though, that at some level husbands and wives need to NEED each other in order to make marriage work. When you feel needed, you are less likely to leave. You are more likely to feel valued and fulfilled. When you need someone, you are less likely to leave. You are more likely to feel gratitude and love. Our world seems to put too much emphasis on finding what WE want and doing what feels good to us, rather than being what someone else needs or even finding what we need.
I hope marriage isn't going to disappear. I love that two people can fall in love and then spend their lives working side by side and raising a family and striving to become better people. I love having someone who knows me, relies on me, needs me, loves me and shares with me. Marriage is a good thing. It can work. I personally think, it is the best way...although, not always the easiest:)
Shortly after we were married, Spring 2000 (Provo Temple)
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