Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of once upon a times and happily ever afters that all seemed to culminate in the protagonist of the story falling in love and getting married. As a child, I would flounce around the room and talk everyone’s ear off about how much I loved weddings and how I couldn’t wait to grow up and tie the knot. I matured with age and became more of a realist, but part of me still held on to the idea that marriage was necessary to live a happy life.

At the start of this year, my perspective on things changed in tandem with the aftermath of my mom and dad’s divorce. It had been a year since their split and they both had stable significant others and seemed happier than ever. It was then that I realized marriage is like brand-name cereal and commitment without marriage is like generic-brand cereal: the brand-name cereal is attractive to the majority because it’s advertised so much, but generic-brand cereal is just as satisfying and sometimes even better.

For most of human history, people did not concern themselves with love in marriage. It was used as a means to establish alliances between families, secure finances, and produce heirs to carry on family lineage. Only in the past couple centuries did wedded couples start to base their lawful union off of their emotions.

Today, marriage has lost most of its traditional purpose and is mainly used to express love and a lifetime commitment to a significant other. But, with divorce rates at such a high, it is apparent that the foundation of marriage is weakening as more people are neglecting its contemporary meaning and the weight it carries.
Recent divorce statistics also support the fact that more couples are becoming dissatisfied with marriage. According to www.divorcerate.org, 41 percent of first marriages end in divorce within age 20-24 years old, which is the largest age category.
The takeaway from all of this is that saying your vows is not a secret key that unlocks the doors to satisfaction and guaranteed commitment. The giant stigma of marriage can actually scare people away from long-term devotion by making the responsibility of it all seem like a much bigger pair of shoes to fill than it actually is. If you love someone, you’re committed to them, and you’re happy, there is no need to feel pressured to get the law involved.
My father Mike Anthony is living proof that marriage is irrelevant in overall happiness and contentedness of a relationship.
“[My girlfriend and I] are very happy, we have to commit to each other everyday and we have the same expectations that a husband and wife would have of each other,” he said. “We share the business of our daily lives with each other, and we’re very happy.”