Of Marraige

          "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out."- Michel de Montaigne

Doesn't this picture sum up well what Montaigne said?

                Marriage is a topic that the current world is not only having trouble defining, but also struggling to determine its value. There are so many unique opinions and views on marriage in the current world that sometimes it is hard to not only keep track of them all, but also decipher who is right and who is wrong. Can anyone be right or wrong when it come to the topic of marriage?

            At Brigham Young University in a heavy LDS environment marriage is seen as key to happiness in life and eternal salvation. Marriages occur at a much younger age than the average U.S. marriage and also tend to see couples have children sooner and in greater abundance. In contrast the average American view of marriage is referred to as “settling down”. Marriage is done later in life, after college life and freedom have been experienced. Marriage is seen as something someone does when in love, and not as a necessary part of having a happy life. These are only two brief descriptions of some of the views of marriage that exist in our current time.

So.. does it really even matter how people view and define marriage?

How the world chooses to define and treat marriage will dramatically affect people’s lives, because it has traditionally been the structure in which new generations have learned and grown up in. As this structure of marriage changes and fluctuates so will the cultures and civilizations of the world. Consider a friend of mine whose mother taught her about the purpose of marriage. My friend was informed that each marriage has a purpose, that first you should marry someone to gain a little bit of money, then a second marriage for love and physical attraction, and a final marriage to settle down with someone you can stand for the rest of your mortal existence. This concept was so foreign to me personally that it now made sense why so many of my friend’s choices were so different than mine. The way people choose to define topics that involve any type of moral decisions, such as marriage, will affect the way that cultures grows and develops in a community.