By Savannah McDade Posted March 2, 2011
“The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself.” Paragraph 1639 “Catechism of the Catholic Church”
In ancient traditions such as Christianity, marriage is considered a “living symbol” of Christ in the church. In Judaism, “The two shall become one.” Within the Paiute culture, “Marriages were considered to be permanent unions,” (www.everyculture.com).
Nevada is the state where for years couples have voyaged to in order to hastily “tie the knot” then divorce with an equal amount of vigor. According to an article on www.jour.unr.edu by Koji Ueda, “It takes 10 minutes to get a marriage license and 15 minutes for a marriage ceremony,” moreover, a couple only has to live in Nevada for six weeks in order to file for divorce. With marriage and divorce policies being so lenient in Nevada, it is not a surprise that Nevada currently obtains the highest divorce rate in the United States (www.huffingtonpost.com).
The factors that contribute to a divorce may vary, but for whatever reason(s) divorce is not an uncommon occurrence, which poses this question: How does divorce affect the individuals in our society?
I tire of reading post hoc divorce statistics that attempt to prove that because a child’s parents filed for divorce, the child will most likely lash out and grow up to be dysfunctional, addicted to drugs, and so on. Even though I do not completely agree with the statistics, I firmly believe that divorce has a very prominent effect on children, parents, and the American culture; furthermore, I believe that the effects vary.
“I don’t believe it (divorce) affects society at all,” said a Lowry High School student who has witnessed and endured numerous divorces, “It has helped me realize marriage is not that important and people are hard to trust.”
Many of my interviewees admitted that trust was an attribute strained by divorce.
“I have a hard time letting people in. I do things myself so no one can let me down,” said the mother of a Lowry student who grew up in a split home.
A young woman who attended Lowry a few years ago not only witnessed divorce between her parents but married young and witnessed divorce first-hand.
“I have learned a lot of unhealthy relationship characteristics […] those learned behaviors came from my parents and how they acted in front of me,” she said.
No two people are perfect, therefore, it is impossible to produce a perfect marriage; therefore marriage (just as any commitment) requires work. Lowry Mom believes that in order for a marriage to persevere, a couple must learn to compromise and practice teamwork. Current Lowry student (mentioned above) added, “Marriage is almost always rushed into before two people truly know each other marriage is on their minds today. I personally don’t believe in marriage, thus will never marry.”
I do not promote abusive relationships by any means and I am not implying that people commit to an unhealthy marriage. However, sacred vows lose meaning when they are uttered out of haste and the underlying meanings of such vows are given little to no thought as a result. Marriage is a decision that should not be made lightly.
