Why marry?

My ma went to school with her pa, if I'm thinking of the right guy....... Voight? Or something - the guy in Deliverance?

That's the guy. I think of him as the guy in Midnight Cowboy. Great movie.

I loved both movies.

If I were taller and unmarried, I'd be there....only because I care.

Suddenly, short people have even less reason to live.

So you admit to being a Randy Newman fan then Blatham....tsk tsk....

"Short People" is a masterpiece, like "Dancing with Bears."

Let's not forget "Rapper's Delight", another masterpiece. In an attempt to lift myself out of the dark place you have sent me with those short people comments...I am no circus dwarf you know....I start humming Neil Diamond's "I Am, I Said"....and build to a startling crescendo celebrating the glory of short people everywhere! Mano a mano, I do think Neil Diamond would kick Randy Newman's ass.

Randy Newman resembles a hobbit these days, and I have no idea if he is married....he is making good coin though.

Randy is indeed married. And he's one fella to whom I wish every possible happiness. A genius composer and songwriter, and I think he is also in the same category as Gary Trudeau and Matt Groenig as a satirist of popular American culture. I love this guy.

Why marry...
Anyone who doesn't care about the vows he/she gives shouldn't marry. If you promise something, you should mean it and stick to it.

I see marriage as a bond that is stronger than others, in which I know I can trust my spouse and in which we gave promises to each other- not just the ones during the ceremony but also the ones in privacy.
To the ouside world it also means that you are taken and dedicated to one person only.

I've recently moved to the States and the divorce statistics is horrifying. I also think most Americans rush into marriage- after having known a person for a couple of weeks or months.
In Europe couples wait longer to get married (in some cases tooo long), anywhere between a year and 5-6-7.
Ultimately, nobody is forcing you to marry. It is up to you. If you and your partner cannot agree upon what you want and what you expect of your relationship but like being involved- well, you do not have to marry!

Marriage is helpful and necessary for the raising of children. And some people stay married, but some don't. There's no reason to assume staying married is any more functional than not. It all depends on the people and what they want or need. Life is short and it doesn't always go by the rules. Thank goodness.

Marriage is about family. When you marry, your lover legally becomes part of your family, and you become part of his. That's one of the biggest differences between marriage & living together.

I started to see your point, eva, and I'm sure it is true many times, but, with more and more family changes generally, in terms of extended complex arrangements, and more and more people not marrying, or more marrying more often, I don't think it holds up. I know many who haven't married who have been together a long time and are inculcated into families. Perhaps some in those families hold them as different, but many don't, as they may be in the same kind of long term relationships. Or, hey, in lots of short term ones themselves. Many families are constructed of other than the properly wed. Perhaps what I am speaking of is more of a coastal thing, or big city understanding. I know it isn't the same everywhere.

I am not exactly arguing as I am sure being official family or not is a big difference for many. Just that it isn't so across the board.

Marriage is a commitment. It makes you be able to trust your spouse more, since they are a lot less likely to leave you. Plus don't you want to celebrate your love with a ceremony showing your significant other just how much you care about them; enough that you want to spend the rest of your life with them?

Other than that, there's tax benefits, there are moral reasons, and marriage is also more highly respected than just living together. A better question is, why not marry?

On getting married, I was so excited - I look forward to my new life and waited for it to begin in earnest with my new husband who I adored and loved. I waited and waited. But nothing happened. We just fell into making plans. He went to work. I studied. We took the occasional trip. But. Nothing happened. It was very, very lonely. I now know that nothing will happen. I need to stop waiting.
Getting married, for me, was the beginning of something new, terrrific and exciting. Like being on the edge of a precipice or a cliff. But I think, for my husband, it was the pot of gold at the end of rainbow. There was nothing more to be done for he had made his journey and he was standing at the end of a race well-run. He wanted to rest. I wanted to have adventures. We never did anything with our individual wants or desires for our marriage. The consequences for the lack of action of both of our parts is now not something I discuss without bursting into a flood of tears. We are both just extremely frustrated and wanting different things.
I'd recommend that anyone thinking of marriage should live with their potential spouse for the longest time first. Get to know what their expectations are after you are married.

Want to be together everyday and want to see the person before sleep and the moment open eyes in the morning...