Yeah, I imagine being loving and becoming
more loveable would be the only way to
overcome the distance between want and have
to. Some cultures, it is ingrained and people
marry for convenience or to create alliances
etc. Fortunately, in America, we still
have a choice. In Great Britian I believe they
are contemplating a divorce penalty. Something
to try to get people to take the contract part
of marriage more seriously.

Me, now it seems that for legal reasons of
passing on property or raising children or
having the right to make medical decisions,
there is necessarily a shifting of values.
I wish it were otherwise but the family as
we knew it has changed so much. My own family
was more traditional but it is sad to think
that I was an exception rather than the rule.

On the news today, there was even a discussion
of women wanting "wives". Stress is rampant
and it seems our technology has failed to free
us and the sense of enslavement is subtle but
for many humans, life can seem like the endless
running of the bulls, or the hamster in its
wheel.

Still, the beauty of love is that it can find
footing and blossom in the most desolate of
situations. I heard a story the other day of
a man finding love in a refugee camp for Sudanese.
I was touched thinking how special love must be
to open the chakras of people in such suffering
that they had no food to share, no clothing
to share, but love, they shared.

It is easy enough to go places like WalMart
and find couples who, in spite of their seeming
differences, look happy. Others seem to be
living quiet lives of desperation. I would like
to think that those people need help, as much as
anyone drowning, or contemplating doing themselves
in. In the end, we are all alone, and it is our
choices, on a daily basis which determine if
we are in the process of connecting (to love)
or disconnecting (from love).

Marriage is just a side effect of love, or should be.
Hard to tell if it is, I think the concept has been
lost in translation through all kinds of misrepresentation
in media, books, and certainly, myth...

blessings,
Zoe

-_-

I think the only way I would get married is if the spouse has about the same assets and income. That way if their is a divorce, which is highly likely in todays flaky culture, no one gets screwed.

Marriage can be a real set back. If you let someone who has nothing, move into your house for 1 1/2 years, your married. If they would like they could then separate and force you to sell your home, to split the equity. This has happened to a couple people I know of. Doesn't sound to romantic to me.

In all honesty, I think it would ruin the love. Love is meant to be inevitable and unexplainable, and with such forceful means, not only will it spoil the love, it will also breed bitterness. :(