Marriage is such complicated subject. Gay marriage, the divorce rate, not to mention the craziness religion adds to the whole institution. Is it a coincidence that “commit me to an institution” means straight jackets and drugs yet we call marriage an institution and rant about commitment?
I think marriage should have an expiration date. After all, legally its a license. What license is for a lifetime? A dog license? No seriously… here me out here.
If you knew your marriage license was going to expire every 10 years and you would have to renew it with the full participation of your spouse wouldn’t that put a new spin on things! You would re-evaluate your situation every 10 years and both of you would either work to make sure the other would renew it or start agreeing to how to do the split when the date began to loom. It brings legal truth to the whole “renew my vows” crap.
And it might really take the surprise out of a couple growing apart. If one was determined to stay in the marriage then they’d have to pursue and “woo” as much as they did the first time. And hey, if one party wants to leave there might be a lot less hassle involved. And you could always get married for another 10 years if you wanted to, maybe to a different person. After all, its only 10 years!
I bet the marriage rate would go straight up. Divorce lawyers would be out of business, because any judge is going to say… “Hey, work it out, you only got 2 more years left.” Unless, of course, there is abuse. Everyone should get a free divorce when there’s abuse.
Oh but what about the kids, you say? Well I’ve seen kids love divorce. Two birthdays, two Christmas’s, the art of playing one parent off another is truly refined in the divorced household. If both parents love the kids and the divorce isn’t bitter or angry then the kids adjust and adjust pretty well. After all, historically women died in childbirth and husbands died in battle or just from overwork. So quite often spouses have had to learn to be single parents in MOST children’s raising over the centuries.
Hey.. I said over the CENTURIES.
So I’m saying as a species we’ve learned to adapt and survive without the ideal marriage in our childhood. And really… what person can claim their parents showed them a happy marriage in their childhood? Really/ A loving couple like on television? Impossible. Yet we all survived, married and had kids. Are we showing them a loving happy couple? After 10 years?
All I’m saying is with an License about to expire things might be different. Better? Maybe, maybe not, but definitely different.
Can you imagine the Continuing Education you might have to take before you could renew your license! Hmmm, class is in session!