I'm with you on most of that, but then there's this: Marriage does indeed matter. It is the foundation of our society.
If you'd said "family is a foundation of our society" I'd have been willing to agree all the way, but it seems to me that lately *way* too much importance has been given to marriage (in whatever form(s)). What about people who choose not to marry their SOs? Or who have no SOs? Or who choose to marry someone knowing that their choice of spouse will separate them from their family/friends/neighbors (i.e. will in some way "undermine" society)? Right-wing religious Jewish and Christian society in this country cares a great deal about marriage, but to define "our society" by right-wing religious Jewish and Christian concerns is narrow-minded.
And on a personal note, as someone who not that long ago was seriously looking at the possibility of never marrying, I find the suggestion that "marriage is the foundation of our society" insulting because it suggests that if I had taken that route I could never be fully part of society, except maybe by supporting other people's marriages. (No, not feeling that you insulted me by writing it, since I doubt that thought ever occurred to you, but I spent enough time as an "old maid" to be sensitive about it.)
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branchandroot
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Date: Jul. 14th, 2004 03:26 pm (UTC)If you'd said "family is a foundation of our society" I'd have been willing to agree all the way, but it seems to me that lately *way* too much importance has been given to marriage (in whatever form(s)). What about people who choose not to marry their SOs? Or who have no SOs? Or who choose to marry someone knowing that their choice of spouse will separate them from their family/friends/neighbors (i.e. will in some way "undermine" society)? Right-wing religious Jewish and Christian society in this country cares a great deal about marriage, but to define "our society" by right-wing religious Jewish and Christian concerns is narrow-minded.
And on a personal note, as someone who not that long ago was seriously looking at the possibility of never marrying, I find the suggestion that "marriage is the foundation of our society" insulting because it suggests that if I had taken that route I could never be fully part of society, except maybe by supporting other people's marriages. (No, not feeling that you insulted me by writing it, since I doubt that thought ever occurred to you, but I spent enough time as an "old maid" to be sensitive about it.)