Tuesday, January 12, 2010

In consideration of arranged marriage

I'm warming to this idea in a semi-serious way, the semi part a consequence of not knowing how to go about it. Assuming he's not a total douche, it's working love in reverse. We commit to each other, we go about the business of creating a family together, and I grow to love him for the things that are actually important. I imagine this guy showing up, both of us aware of how awkward it is to knit two lives together without the burden of believing our passion for one another is supposed to make those things easier. I don't think we would be like robots but I imagine we would treat each other more like co-workers, with a polite but distant affection that transitioned into a eyes wide open honest love as the years went by. I believe most of us can learn to love anyone but I think many have forgotten how to love. People trade actual love for intoxicating but fleeting sensations, and really believe something is wrong when sharing your life with another person sometimes does not feel euphoric and even has the nerve to feel downright awful. When you marry someone you don't know and couldn't profess love for, you don't expect euphoria, bliss, unicorns and kittens. You expect they will honor the contract you have made with one another. Not because they feel a certain way but because they promised. And that's what I want. Someone who takes the actual commitment more seriously than how they feel about me on any given day. I think taking the commitment seriously informs how we feel about each other. We're inclined to figure out how to make it work instead of independently deciding what our unhappiness threshold is and dipping out when we are no longer interested in seeking or finding reconciliation and compromise. I've probably already been with the man I would have spent my life with. I think I would rather share my life and raise kids with a man I had no expectation of affection from but respected. I think parts of it would be painful but perhaps no more painful than having someone tell you they don't feel the way they used to about you.

2 comments:

Lodo Grdzak said...

Kind of like The Clintons.

But truth be told, this is an arrangement that in many ways makes sense. The only thing I'd add (or remind you of) is that, except for about (30) seconds, you don't need a man to have a baby. I wish more women would recognize that.

Terog said...

You're right Lodo, I don't need a man to have/raise a child. But if I were to purposely bring a person into this world, right now, I wouldn't do it without a man to raise the child with me. Maybe that will change...we'll see.