Marriage

Though this week is Easter, and I was hoping to focus more on Christ and His treatment of women, the Supreme Court's discussions on protecting the Defense of Marriage Act has motivated me to write a little on the subject. As should be clear by now, I believe that men and women are very different with different strengths and purposes, yet equal. Together, a man and woman improve each other and teach each other. Marriage is when men and women can become one and work together to find lasting joy and happiness. Though I am not married, I have seen my sister's marriages up close on several occasions. I have seen my sisters grow from teenagers, to young adults, to wives and then to mothers. They have grown in many ways and it is amazing to see the women they have become as they have served their families. They have turned away from selfishness to selflessness. They have, on many occassions, given up things for the sake of their families. They have made decisions based on the needs of their children, instead of their own desires and even needs. And in these sacrifices, they have found joy; a joy that I look forward to experiencing in my own life. They also find a balance in life that can only come from two different people, with different views and opinions working together to find compromise. Everyone deserves to find joy in living outside of themselves, of enjoying family and finding deeper meaning in life. Yet, I feel that those seeking homosexual marriage will find continued disappointment, even if they receive all the rights they desire. Countless studies have been done on marriage and the benefits of it, emotionally, physically, etc. But this is based on marriage in a traditional sense- marriage between a man and a woman. This new hybrid marriage that is proposed is something entirely different, and cannot be expected to provide the same joy and benefit as traditional marriage is proven to do. While these advocating for homosexual marriage and rights desire the same level of satisfaction found by heterosexual marriages, they fail to account for the differences and consequences of a same sex marriage. We try so hard in society to make situations the way we want them, but in so excusing and ignoring certain facts, we are sure to fail- and same sex marriage is one of the many instances of this societal blindness. It reminds me of college. In college, you study a lot of moral issues, social issues and theories. We all get to a point where we think we can save the world. On paper, everything we want to work out can. Then we graduate and real life comes with a swift kick in the pants. Then we realize, life is more complicated than the theories we have on paper. The experimentation with same sex marriage is one of those issues. While we want to say, everyone is equal! and we should all have a rights to experience joy in family! and we need to show we're not biased by supporting the cause! Well, the idea is all good and fine, but we have to understand that this is real life. The consequences are real, are we ready to accept them? We don't know how same sex couple parenting affects children. We know that single parenting has a negative effect on children, but single parenting can't be avoided in a lot of cases. The children are going to be the ones influenced by the decisions being made. How can we consciously make decisions without having their best interest at heart? Children are entitled to a mother and a father. To go along with my thoughts, I found an article courageously written by a homosexual who is opposed to same sex marriage. His thoughts are intellectual and reasonable, taking into consideration real life and consequences. See the link below:

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/03/9432/