There is something so final about the orders which are given by a commander to his regiment. It's something which must be followed because it comes from a position of authority. It's quiet unnatural to see such blind trust and such obedience among two consenting adults. I am not sure such obedience exists in any other form of relationship. Over the years divorce has increased drastically and the sacred bond formed by marriage reduced to a financial transaction.
This is the biggest criticism I have heard towards commitment and relationships. "It's [marriage] no more about love or commitment; it's all about a show of wealth and a future security of wealth" said my Uncle (himself going through a divorce, so not a surprise he is questioning the sanctity of marriage).
A simple question floated in my head-------- What has been the evolution of marriage? I mean if there are people like my uncle who see it this way there must be some reasoning behind it and that is what I set out to figure out.
How has the process of marriage evolved over a century?
Now marriage differs from culture to culture, a Christian wedding may be a matter of hours, a Punjabi wedding could take up to 6 hours for the groom's arrival, A Muslim wedding could be a combination of numerous pre-wedding and post-wedding rituals. however, in all of this one thing remain constant ----- That is the legality of the matter.
Legally speaking it does not matter what your background, your religion or your culture is, legally marriage is nothing but a contract between two consenting adults which gives them new rights and new obligations.
The legal status, condition, or relationship that results from a contract by which one man and one woman, who have the capacity to enter into such an agreement, mutually promise to live together in the relationship of Husband and Wife in law for life, or until the legal termination of the relationship.
So, what really interested me was the legal definition and how emotionless it sounds (which is the way it should be), but the fact that the emotion of love was completely non - existent from this equation really interested me. Due, to this I started to look the nature of marriages through History.
History of Marriage
Marriage for almost 10 centuries was merely an inheritance claim as Women treated as property were traded between upper class members. This was very prominent in 6th century Europe. From the 12th to 14 th century arraigned marriage took over, this custom meant a village would select who a member of the village married, the parents of upper - classmen decided who their children married. Then across the Victorian era is where the concept of love developed and solidifying this bond with marriage. Marriage was recommended and the next biggest industry emerged from it the wedding industry.
Now we move to the 20th century and until now Marriage has reached its peak, with the 50's making the ideology of a nuclear family more famous than ever and now a new revolution moving towards LGBT+ right to marry. The concept of marriage is reaching its finality. With reaching its finality I had a thought what if it's coming to a:
Now I don't feel that we will move to a situation where incestuous marriage will go mainstream like in ancient Greece and Rome. I feel we will move more to a scenario in which people will only get married still out of their free will but with financial situations in mind. Now this does not mean just signing up a prenuptial agreement but situations which I will point out in the next segment.
Financial Security
So, in what way is it possible that marriage may shift towards more of a way for Financial Security. There are the criteria which will need to be met if people want to get married:
Marriage is only important for procreation.
prenuptial Contract's bring all issues on the table including and most importantly money issues.
marriage will only be possible when income and expense stability is met. If household is in debt, there is no point expanding.
Kids are expensive and having them has to be financial decision seeing how they drain on an average $250,000 until they reach college.
paying of student loan debt, while adding more debt from items need for traditional family structure such as: House, Cars etc.
Conclusion
Marriage will eventually move back to a Financial Transaction and nothing can stop it. I personally although to young to make an experienced conclusion will follow and bide by the criteria in life. This will not require a tragic change for some cultures however some cultures will have a harder time coping up with the changes.
Concluding Line of Argument: Marriage is a Financial Transaction and nothing more than that. Whether it is the correct way to proceed has got nothing to do with it, the only thing which matters in the relationship is finances.
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