Just take a moment and think about all of the television shows and movies you have watched throughout the years, and see how many of them have a central theme of marriage. That's right, almost ALL of them do. We have been force fed a concept of who we are and what we should do for many many years now. As though you should not have alternative views on relationships...I mean, why can't a man and a woman (or same sexes) be in a relationship, be happy, and live together forever without being "married"? Nothing changes except a piece of paper, and most people will do it for tax reasons!

Because, we have been taught that no, this is the way your life is "supposed" to be. You are supposed to give your significant other a ring, and have a wedding. Hello every single Disney movie ever made, this is the theme...but why? Why do you have to do that? Because movies and television and society tells you that is what you are supposed to do and are expected to do?

How many young men are taught that they, at some point, absolutely must propose to their girlfriend, and give them a shiny piece of metal with a rock attached to it, otherwise their relationship is going nowhere...even if they are perfectly happy and content?

Little girls are taught by society that unless they grow up, meet prince charming, get married, and have children, that their life is incomplete and that they will be miserable until this happens to them sadly. They all grow up thinking that they are all "princesses", but they're not.

You can be sure of one thing, marriage IS big business. But at what cost? Emotional trauma? How many people wind up getting divorced after thinking that if only they were married that everything would be ok, just like in the movies and on television and that they will live happily ever after? Only to find out that being "married" to someone is not a guaranteed happy pill?

As to the conspiracy part, well I do believe that there are those in Hollywood that are indeed in bed with the diamond and wedding industries that blatantly have been promoting and pushing the marriage agenda for some time now. And if we try to connect the dots of those that have investments in these industries, the people/corporations that profit from these industries that there definitely IS a connection, or multiple connections that serve to enrich the pocketbooks of these people. Therefore they stick to the "diamond ring, marriage=love" theme.

But I digress, the point is...nobody should ever feel pressured or even brainwashed into the idea that marriage is the "right thing to do" or that if you're not married then you are not ever going to be happy. Ladies and gentlemen, you definitely do NOT have to have a shiny rock on your finger, and be married to be happy. No matter what the television or movies try to hammer into our heads, you do not need this bizarre "institution" to be able to show the world that you indeed love your significant other.

I've been with the same guy since I was in my mid-teens. My frank thoughts are that I don't need a piece of paper to confirm to me that I love him or justify our relationship in some way.

Too late for me...

This year will be 29 years of, well, wedded bliss I guess.

Heavy sigh... Where were you with this information 30 years ago.

Personally i like the idea of marriage , IMHO> and being with one person for the rest of your lives . I love the wedding vows , and the idea of two people becoming one . Working together , loving together , raising familys together.

What i don't like is

people who get married without understanding the responsibilities of it , mostly getting married for business reasons , or for a good family name to avoid gossip .

I don't like people who rush marriages only to have a divorce a year later and make marriage look bad.

85 percent of the people who get married today , should not . They don't know what they are getting them selfs into.

If people married believing in the power of wedding vows , and believe in putting in the effort to make a marriage work , then marriage would not be so bad as it is today.

Only reason people have a problem with marriage is because morons gets married to early , fail and make marriage look bad. They don't understand wedding vows are more then cute poetry ...


Secondly marriage is Mostly womens fault.

yes you women , who don't know how to pick a man , keep being attracted to jerks with superficial confidence.

Your the one who say YES to marriage .( pre arranged marriages , sex slave brides seperate)

Your the one who pick men , thinking he is the one , only to be fooled later on and realize you got a lemon.

You women need some training on how to find a better man , instead of going off the first thing that makes your heart skip a beat

You women are the ones who make marriage look bad , because of the clown partner you have chosen.

Men when it comes to women will almost all the time mess it up , its no secret. Thats why you should have better understanding on who your saying I DO too.

I very much dislike people getting married rushing it , all for silly reasons besides the main reason to get married.

When a man gets married he has to live by principals , vows , promises !
But most men don't have these merits even before marriage , and rush in like idiots .

and of course the women welcome them with open arms, because they are emotional creatures , going by what they feel now , not what they might end up feeling.


The conspiracy part is people know idiots RUSH marriage without thinking twice . Mostly women vs men.

Easily make a quick buck off these morons , even after divorce they make money.

Why not ? only thing it hurts is the beauty of marriage and two people in love .

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
I've been with the same guy since I was in my mid-teens. My frank thoughts are that I don't need a piece of paper to confirm to me that I love him or justify our relationship in some way.

thats what i told my wife

yet it didint stop her from naging me about it, until i signed those papers...who the hell says this paper now makes our love "official" just because it has a notary seal on it?

pffft

Originally posted by kawika
Too late for me...

This year will be 29 years of, well, wedded bliss I guess.

Heavy sigh... Where were you with this information 30 years ago.

lol well I think there's nothing at all wrong with being with and loving the same person for life if that is what makes you happy

Would you have been able to do so without the institution and label of marriage?

Originally posted by k1k1to

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
I've been with the same guy since I was in my mid-teens. My frank thoughts are that I don't need a piece of paper to confirm to me that I love him or justify our relationship in some way.

thats what i told my wife

yet it didint stop her from naging me about it, until i signed those papers...who the hell says this paper now makes our love "official" just because it has a notary seal on it?

pffft

Ah, that is the great question, and if you think about it, it is not your fault nor hers that society has for thousands of years pushed and sometimes forced this institution upon us. Her nagging could indeed be subconsciously manifesting itself because of a lifetime of television and movies telling her that without that piece of paper, and ring, and typical ceremony that she would never be happy. This is sad, because you can be perfectly happy and have the same level of commitment and love without such things.

I was happily single until I was 39 years old. When I met my husband, he was the perfect fit for me, but I never nagged him about wanting to be married. He was the one who wanted marriage. He's just a little old-fashioned I guess. We now have a daughter, and I think that us being married is a good thing for her.

We have been married 12 years and still going strong, so no problems with marriage here.

What kills me is when people spend thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars on outrageous weddings. What a waste of good money that could go to so many other more important things. We had a small private wedding with only family. And I do not have a huge rock on my finger - just a wedding band, thank you very much.

So, not all women rush into marriage, and not all women have to have that huge rock.

I like women too much to marry them.

Marriage is a beautiful thing, and an important cornerstone of society. The family is the building block upon which everything else rests.

It's the piece of paper that screws everything up. Who says you need a "license" to get married? Needing a license for something implies that without the license it is illegal. But in the old days, there was never a marriage "license". That is a contract with a THIRD PARTY, the State, which has no business in your marriage. That's the problem. In the old days you would get married in the church or whatever, and write it down in the family Bible. That's it. But now, you've been fooled into thinking you need to make a contract with the State to "make it legal".

This causes the "fruit of the contract", your children, to belong to the State.

That's right. Think about that for a moment.

That's why the State can come TAKE YOUR CHILDREN AWAY if they want to. How do you like that?

In many marriages one party stands to benefit, when the marriage dissolves that is. At one point the girlfriend wakes up and thinks, yeah, if things go sour Id like half of the house, the retierment, the assets etc. . It doesnt take a white wedding movie for that, although I guess, headlines like X got such in divorce help.

remember its a leap year
so to all men watch out on the 29th