Till Death Do Us Part

            Every little girl fantasizes about the day she will get married. This includes the kind of dress she will wear, the beautiful flowers, and of course it has to be the prettiest place on earth. Marriage is supposed to be the happiest day of a person’s life and one day that will be remembered forever. However, in today’s world marriage is somewhat of a joke. “Every ten to thirteen seconds someone gets divorced” (“Surprising Facts…). Some people get married for the wrong reasons, like for the other person’s money, publicity, a free ticket to live in a certain country, and many other reasons. It has evolved from being a sacred tie between two people in love to somewhat of a sham. I go to weddings today or hear about celebrities getting married and all the bets on how long they will last before a divorce goes along with them. It is absurd that such a large percentage of marriages end in a divorce. Of course, there are those who get married for the right reasons, but there is a large amount that get married for the wrong reasons, end up in a divorce, causing emotional stress, not only for them, but for others.

            “The Americans for Divorce Reform estimates that probably, 40 or possibly even 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce if current trends continue” (“Divorce Statistics…”). The fact that statistics show that “45% to 50% marriages end in divorce” is unheard of (“Divorce Statistics…”). This statistic is absolutely absurd. There is no legitimate reason as to why half the people getting married will end up in a divorce. Of course, there are certain situations such as domestic violence, child abuse, or substance abuse that could have intensified after marriage where the person’s only choice is divorce. However, there are clearly more reasons for divorce due to this high statistic. Around 37% of divorces happened between the ages 20 to 24 years old. Also, in a person’s second marriage “60% to 67% marriages end in divorce” and in an individual’s third marriage “70% to 73% marriages end in divorce” (“Divorce Statistics…”).

            These statistics are very scary and make marriage seem like a joke. People are rushing into marriage before they really get to know a person and it results in divorce. Those who rush into marriage without a long term relationship beforehand and without really getting to know that other person, figure out that they are not right for each other when it’s too late. People need to know that marriage is a lifelong commitment that needs to be taken seriously.

So many people today hear about people getting married just to be able to live in a certain country, or for the others’ money, or publicity. Almost everyone has heard about the Kim Kardashion marriage that lasted 72 days. Millions of people watched the marriage ceremony on TV, then, before you know it, the couple is getting a divorce. Later on, the media claimed that is was just for the money and publicity. It was said that they got paid over a million dollars by having their wedding taped and publicized. Then a few weeks after their divorce, Kim made a statement claiming that the wedding was not for the money and she really did love him, but things changed after they were married. If they had a longer engagement and did not rush into getting married, they would have seen this side of each other beforehand and would have never got married in the first place. Watching the wedding on TV, one could clearly see all the tension and animosity between the couple. However, they still stood up there and recited their vows, just to get divorced three months later. No one really knows if the marriage was a sham for the money or if they really just rushed into it, but either way, it should be an example to others to take marriage more seriously.

There are also a significant amount of people who get married for citizenship. In the movie The Proposal, a high end book editor was going to get deported from America back to Canada due to an expired visa. She forces her assistant to marry her by threating his job. Therefore she can gain citizenship and then planned to get a divorce after a certain amount of time. They go to an immigration office and are warned that they need to know a certain amount of information about each other along with a few other things. However, all these things could easily be studied and fabricated to seem like they were an actual couple.

Divorce does not only affect the couple, it also affects the people around them, especially the couple’s children. Statistics show that “ Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage” (“18 Shocking…”). Children whose parents divorce tend to leave an emotion effect on the children. “Studies in the early 1980’s showed that children in repeat divorces earned lower grades and their peers rated them as less pleasant to be around” (“18 Shocking…”). Also, “teenagers in single-parent families and in blended families are three times more likely to need psychological help within a given year” (“18 Shocking..”). “Compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have more psychological problems” (“18 Shocking…”). There are also physical effects on children whose parents get divorces. “Children of divorce are at a greater risk to experience injury, asthma, headaches and speech defects than children whose parents have remained married” and “ are fifty percent more likely to develop health problems than two parent families” (“18 Shocking…”). Also, people who come from broken homes are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who do not come from broken homes” and “Children of divorced parents are roughly two times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who benefit from living with parents who did not divorce” (“18 Shocking…” ).  

Unfortunately there are very little ways that we can fix this problem. We cannot take away people’s right to get married. However, we should make the regulations to get married stricter. There should be a time requirement for a couple to be together before getting married. A couple should have to show documentation to prove they have been together for up to two years before getting married. This will make sure that these people will have time to get to know each other fully and there will be less surprises after the marriage. This will significantly decrease the amount of divorce and would weed out most of the fake marriage just for legalization, publicity, and money. Some might see this as unnecessary because it is a person’s right to be able to get married whenever they please. There are those 50% who get married for the right reasons and that do not result in divorce but the other 50% are simply dismissed with a divorce. This shows makes the vows and commitment of marriage a joke and not taken seriously. If we had a system to make sure a couple is more ready for the commitment of marriage it would strengthen the unity and make it more of a legitimate ceremony.

Marriage is intended to be a lifelong sacred commitment shared between two people. However, it has become more of a scam and not taken seriously. When people stand in front of a priest and recite their vows, they need to really understand what they are committing to and be prepared to live up to it. Marriage has been distorted into something completely different then it was intended to be. It does not only affect the couple, but their children and family members. The fact that up to 50% of marriages end in a divorce is embarrassing and should be taken more seriously.

 Works Cited

"Divorce Statistics in America ." Divorce Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. http://www.divorcestatistics.org/>.

"Surprising Facts about Marriage, Affairs & Divorce." Ivillage. N.p., 1 Feb. 2001. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ivillage.com/14-surprising-facts-about-marriage-affairs-divorce/4-a-283381>.

"18 Shocking Statistics about Children and Divorce."   Marriage-Success-Secrets. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.marriage-success-secrets.com/statistics-about-children-and-divorce.html>.