Everybody has something to say about marriage. Some of it is positive, some extremely cynical. I’m inclined to think a lot of a person’s ideas about marriage and response to marriage come from their experiences of marriage. This means the model they saw in their parent’s marriage and sometimes in the marriages of friend’s parents. Good reason for parents to be careful about the sort of messages they are sending their children about marriage. It will shape a person’s own expectations of and attitude towards marriage.
It is also shaped by their own experience of love and marriage and what they see around them every day, on TV, movies, the media and just while shopping up the street.
This week I got a couple of new books. Mick and I are big readers and we occasionally find interesting titles in the catalogue of Clouston and Hall which specializes in remaindered books. A package arrived this week for both of us.
One of my books was A Writer’s Commonplace Book by Rosemary Friedman. It is filled with quotations on all sort of topics and, you guessed it, some are about love, marriage and family life. Some are to my mind unbelievably cynical and jaded. Others struck a chord with me.
How about this one? ‘Those who attack marriage for its imperfections fail to notice that they are measuring it by the wrong yardstick. We should not measure any human institution against perfection, but against available alternatives.’ Hans Eysenck.
When we look at it in this light has anyone really come up with a better alternative? I don’t think so. Statistics of those who chose to live together and not marry don’t suggest they are any happier, more stable or lasting.
This is one quote I really liked. ‘If you’re not prepared to stick it (marriage) out…in the mist and rain you’ll never see the view from the top of the mountain.’ Source Unknown.
It sounds to me like this person has been through good and tough times in their married life and proved the reality of the statement. It’s been my marriage experience too. What about you?
Related blogs
What To Teach Your Children About Marriage
Short Term Contract Marriages?
Lies Society Has Fed Us About Marriage