CARTOON: HAVE YOU ENTERED MARRIAGE BECAUSE IT WILL CONFER YOU WITH WORLDLY ADVANTAGES?

Years ago, arranged marriages were the norm. Sometimes, a relative who lives abroad, whether in America or Europe, makes a request for a marriage partner because he or she wants to marry from home and not some foreigner abroad. If you have not encountered that scenario, I have.

Today’s cartoon is on the theme of people entering a marriage agreement with the believe that they had no say in the arrangement; that they just have to enter into marriage from some arrangement because the partner wields power, money or some other benefits which everyone wants to share.

That is when the marriage agreement looks like some Terms of Service (TOS).

Marriage Cartoon by Andertoons

Kathy’s Dilemma

The bride above, Kathy, is in a dilemma because her partner-to-be must possess qualities such as money, power or fame which her family, peers, or closest social circle craves. And he knows it. So, having the bargaining power, she agrees to the marriage arrangement with the benefits it can confer in mind; he knows this and she knows it. So what would he do? He’d make sure he gives her the ten commandments of what he expects of her in the marriage, some reasonable, sometimes absurd. This is what the cartoonist refers to as some Terms of Service (TOS). It reminds one of the long list of terms you encounter when you are installing software. At the bottom of the screen, you will be told: If you agree to these terms, click here, or If you do not agree, click here.

It would be a recipe for disaster entering marriage hoping to get some benefits from it; whether of any of the three above.

But we all do it most of the time.

The Officiating Priest’s point of view

The second dilemma the cartoonist portrays is that after reading the terms of service, the officiating minister thinks she is making a big mistake entering into this arrangement, hence his use of the words terms of service, and reminding us of the fact that most of us, like Kathy, decide to click: I do, whether to marriage or to installing software, even though we do not know a thing about how it works, provided it has worked for others.

That is the caveat. We think because it has worked for others it will work for us. Well, like for installing software, if you do not like the arrangement again, Kathy or you or I who desire the benefits of money, power or fame, can simply go to the control panel and uninstall the software or apply for a divorce.

That would be a sorry outcome, but that is what everyone does.

May our marriages last forever!