Why Marry?

Write in your journal about your thoughts on marriage - not necessarily who should be allowed to marry or what you see as the ideal marriage, but rather why you think people marry. What do they hope to gain? What do they give up? How is being married different from simply living together as a couple? Base your entry on your observations and experience.

• In the past, people marry mostly because of tradition and family pressure - once you find someone who you are satisfied with and believe is suitable, as well as approved by your family, you get married and have children, as is expected of you. However, I believe that people marry nowadays because of that adrenaline rush, and because of those short-lasting yet influential hormones and pheromones that we human beings have. My idea of a marriage isn't a very fond one, seeing as most of my experiences and understandings with them aren't on the positive side. To me, the only difference between marrying and living together is that single piece of paper - your marriage certificate; people want an "official" or "legal" item showing that they are indeed bonded. It really doesn't make any sense to me why people would want that; having such things will only cause legal problems when the hormones fade away and people start to distance away and eventually want divorces.
• Then again, perhaps people marry for economic reasons, on top of hormones. Married, two people can buy 1 item and share between two, which is more economically beneficial.
• That last reason why I believe people marry is because people are naive, and they believe in their fantasies of having sweet lives with their husbands/wives and living "happily ever after," which, I must remind, doesn't exist in reality. Every thing has an end, even life, and love relationships are the same.
• I am not a fond supporter of marriage because I believe people give up too much in marriages. The main thing is that people give up their freedom. They are now bond to someone, and their priorities must include their significant other. For example, friends must be given up. Another is time; they don't have that much time for themselves anymore because they have to give time for their other half. Also, when people marry, they have to learn to be tolerant, because everyone is different and everyone will have different ideas that may one time or another clash with each other and cause conflicts.
• Despite all the negative things that I have said about marriage, I still do encourage people who are confident about it to try. Marriages may still work. People, even when hormones fade away, may be able to keep a comfortable relationship of friendship and kinship.