For most persons, marriage is a milestone that every adult should experience at least once in their life. The basic romantic comedy pretty much sums up what is expected: Boy meets girl, they have a moment, go on dates, fall deeply in love, meet the parents, get married and live happily ever after.

The reality is that marriage was never built on love. In fact, sometimes the bride and the groom didn't meet each other until their wedding day.

History

Early marriages were transactions that were created to strengthen family bonds. The bride and groom were not a part of the decision making at all and neither was love.

The effort to strengthen family ties even influence cousins to marry each other. This practice was evident even in the Bible, where Jacob and Isaac married their cousins.

Even though monogamy is the practice today, polygamy was widely practised and this is also evident in the Bible.

Babies were very important to marriages. Men were allowed to leave a marriage if his wife proved to be infertile, and find someone else.

The 1600s is when the marriage licence became needed to show evidence of marriage in Massachusetts. By the 19th Century, it became a requirement across the US.

It wasn't until the early 20th Century where love matches started to become popular.

Present Day

The norm is for couples to fall in love and get married. There are a few persons who may marry for other reasons that can include money, children, and religion, even visa. The newest development to marriage will be gay marriage. While this phenomenon is still illegal in Jamaica, we have seen countries around the world change their position on this topic. In the US ,17 states have already made same sex marriages legal.

There are many who believe that changing marriage to include same sex couples is simply wrong, especially if you are coming from a religious standpoint. Some fear that making this step will completely undermine the institution of marriage. Personally, I think that the institution of marriage is already shaky, especially since there are reality shows where complete strangers compete for the chance to marry each other. Furthermore, in my opinion, the decision on which someone should love and marry is not a legislative one. I think it should be left to the individuals to decide for themselves what works for them.

Stay sexy.

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