Marriage

So my Legal Studies lecturer has started us on the last topic of the year, Family Law. The first part of it revolves around marriage. Through out these past lessons, my understanding of marriage is really challenged as I always regard marriage in a very traditional Catholic manner.

First of all, there is the argument regarding the definition of man and woman. Now, if technology has not created sex operations and stuff, we won't have the problem of it. What's with the rising number of transexual couples, the Australia Court suddenly decided in 2003 that the gender of a person is to be decided upon the time of marriage, the perception of one's own gender and the operation on the change of one's gender is irreversible.

Perhaps it is my conservative mind but I really cannot understand how people would and could accept such explanations of gender. What determines your gender if it is not your chromosomes or your gender determined upon birth? By conducting an operation and changing your genital parts into artificial ones, how does THAT change your natural gender?

For that I cannot accept transexual marriages. It is against the law of Nature. Do not argue with me that by changing one's gender, the gender is changed and therefore, acceptable. I do not believe in such changes. It's like an old woman or man injecting botox into the body, trying to look young, but cannot truly become young as the fact that the person is old cannot be changed.

What about homosexual marriages? Some parts of the world recognise it. I cannot and I will not. While I agree with giving homosexual equal rights in property, employment etc., I don't agree with homosexual marriages. It is just not right. I'm sorry I cannot be empathetic but I don't agree with same sex partners. I don't hate transexuals or homosexuals, I just cannot accept them.

Marriage in the eyes of Catholics is sacred, a voluntary union between one man and one woman, a vow given for life. To change and fool around with the definition of man and woman simply defiles the sacred meaning of marriage. Let me just add in that I am against divorce, not even for any reason at all. Don't give me talks about 'what if there is no feeling anymore' or 'what if a spouse is disloyal', etc.

The problem with people nowadays is generally, they are so absurdly casual about marriage. It used to be treated with utmost respect and a heavy vow not to be taken lightly. Just because there is an exit for marriage called divorce, it doesn't mean we should opt for it whenever things cannot work out. When two individuals marry, they choose each other by their own free will. Since it is one's own decision, can people not be a bit more responsible about their choices of life partners?

When a couple 'loses' the feel, that's because they're not communicating. They're not taking the effort to make every day a 'romantic-feel' day. When a couple quarrels and cannot come to an agreement, it's because both are unwilling to tolerate and be patient. When a spouse cheats on the other, or worse, both are cheating on each other, that's because of disloyalty. As mentioned earlier, the sense of responsibility is missing. When there is disloyalty, only forgiveness and repentance can be the remedy. Yet, nowadays, how many are willing to put up a fight, not against one's own spouse, but to save the marriage?

I think those who know me well will know enough that I can never be a divorce lawyer. In fact, I don't think I would ever choose to practice family law. The world is in too much a mess to talk about what family really is.