Weekly Discussion: Marriage, A Social Contract Or That Which Depicts Love & Guarantees A Lasting Partnership….?

Recent developments in the world of celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kris Humpheries and our own very own  Christiana Love have made it necessary for me to revisit this topic.

After 72 days of marriage, Kim K called it a quit, a deep slap on the sacred nature of the institution of marriage… Contemporary developments to a greater extent seem to affirm my belief that, marriage  does not guarantee a lasting partnership/relationship but it is just another social contract we usher ourselves into.

Marriage, in spite of its elusive interpretation and the divorce ridden hallmark that has come to typify its overview, has still managed to endure the test of time.   Its root and importance can be traced to the genesis of mankind: where God created living things in pairs and surely it will not be unreasonable to think that these creatures were of different sex.

It is therefore prudent to acknowledge marriage as a concept of God’s imagination and creation to continuously pair us as was done at creation.

The value and substance of marriage to mankind and to our contemporary society varies in our minds as individuals. Many are those who consider marriage as that needed to ensure a lasting relationship and better still, as a fountainhead of love or that which depicts love.

Most people push themselves and their partners into marriage under the delusional impression that, marriage means love and will firmly cement them together as lovers thereby securing their relationship to a lasting end.

As I nurture my way through life, I have come across several persons saying; if he loves you, why doesn’t he marry you? Get him to marry you and your relationship will forever be secured. My deduction from such words is that, many or all except me are of the notion that, marriage is love and love is marriage.

I am not an anti-marriage advocate; do not jump into a hasty conclusion on my conceptual understanding of marriage to mean so. The above common aphorism  do not only sound immature but sets up to baffle my mind if marriage in today’s society is love and guarantees a certain relationship or if  it is just a social contract which mostly lacks the elements of love and therefore can be terminated at anytime.

As much as the existing multiple assertions push me along the path of marriage being necessary in showing love and guaranteeing a lasting relationship, I am certainly sure that marriage is just a social contract which does not necessary depicts love or secure any relationship.

Marrying someone does not fully or in itself an evidence of love for the person. Many are times where people have been in love and have enjoyed a lasting relationship but never got married. In the same light, many people are married but do not have any component of love residing in their hearts and minds. Some marriages break up just months after it is tied up, some relationships without marriage endures “forever”.

Marriage to my contemporary understanding is just another social contract which is not superior to any other social contracts and does not  itself  means  “love”; just marrying a person can never secure the love one seeks, for marriage is not love and love is not marriage.

I think I have accurately put in writing my perception about marriage…What is yours? Do you think marriage depicts love or guarantees a lasting partnership/relationship?  Or do you also think it is just a social contract?