I remember my first day of family law class. The Professor asked us for
a definition of marriage. Eager to impress we all provided a nugget of
wisdom. She wrote each nugget on the board. It went something like this:
MARRIAGE IS... when two people... who are in love... and sexually attracted to each other... agree to love each other... and be faithful... forever... in front of society... in a religious and/or civil ceremony... for the purpose of living together... and procreating... etc.
The Professor then proceeded to shred our romantic notions. She asked us if the following were legitimate marriages:
- Ugly couple who is not sexually attracted to each other but want to start a family like everyone else;
- Bride and groom who know that he will be unfaithful but nonetheless choose to marry;
- Couple who signs a prenup;
- Infertile couple;
- Couple in arranged marriage;
- A secret marriage;
- ...etc
By the end of class, we had narrowed it down to:
MARRIAGE IS...a contract between two people to take care of each other for an undefined period of time.
Bummer.
