I just haven't gotten to believe in level two yet.
You used the word, marriage, and I used the word, family. If you used family, level two might be easier.
Yes, marriage is supposed to be about producing children, more or less. We've gotten away from that. People think about marriage in terms of two people with a sexual relationship. We've moved somewhat away from that in that sex and children occur in and out of marriage. Traditionalists would have us go back to that standard. I say, move on. It's not like we need to worry nowadays about producing enough children to insure the survival of the species.
Who is family? Family is the set of people to whom we offer condolences when someone dies or whom we congratulate when someone wins a prize. Most of us have families. The people who comprise our families, though, may not all be related to us. Why can't we formalize the relationship among those people who are teamed together in families?
Right now a family unit is defined by birth, death, marriage, and adoption. That means that only people who fit certain criteria can form families. Why shouldn't two or three or more old people who are close join together as family for mutual support? Even when older men and women marry, it's not necessarily about sex and it's definitely not about having babies. As they say, men want a nurse or a purse. Women want companionship, support, someone to fuss over. Maybe there's sex, maybe not. Who cares? Seems to be it's in society's best interests that they form a family and care for each other so Medicaid won't have to.
I guess, under current law, they could form a family by adopting one another. I've seen that that's being done. Or through some combination of marriage and adoption. But that's really clumsy. Seems much simpler to me if they just enter a family contract, like a group marriage. If we quit focusing on sex, it doesn't seem unnatural. Family can include traditional marriages and also other arrangements.
Karen |
