Marriage like whoa

Brandon got me thinking about the idea of marriage again.

And, while I think he wrote a lovely explanation of why he’s afraid to die alone and all the good things that come along with a marriage, my whole problem with that comes down to the idea that none of what he was talking about is exclusive to the institution of marriage.

Why get married? Are we so backwards as a people and society that we can’t manage to commit to another person without a legally binding contract? Is it really that impossible to meet someone, fall in love with them, live with them, have a family with them, take care of them and watch them die without going through the socially accepted binding ceremony?

Sure, there are some true benefits to a marriage - protection of the woman, protection of the children and tax breaks, but really only tax breaks are truly necessary anymore, at least for civilized people. The other two seem to be around in order to take care of deadbeat men - men who won’t pay child support or take care of their kids once they’re no longer legally bound to the woman. Those people suck.

But giving in to “the public”’s forced idea of what is and isn’t okay kind of pokes me the wrong way. And I oftentimes will end up fighting back for no real reason when things do that.

I can see that marriage really isn’t that bad, but I just don’t see the necessity of it. And if something’s not really necessary, why go through with it at all? Can’t we all just take responsibility for our actions, be completely truthful and honest with the person we’re with and try our hardest to make that work without a contract? I certainly hope that we can do that, and I’m going to try my damnedest to do it on my own.

(I really meant to write more but I’m fucking tired - maybe I’ll come back to this later)