I do?

If you take at look at Australia's divorce rate today you'd think that people in arranged marriages they heavily opposed to had escaped their home countries and come to Australia to get divorced. Not that I personally have any experience in this area, but it seems to me that people forget that they themselves have CHOSEN to enter into these marriages.

But what about those who don't have a choice? I was speaking with a woman I know and found out that her marriage had been an arranged one. She talked to me about her family and how the marriage had been arranged. She said that she had never heavily protested against the idea but admitted that it had been hard for her, knowing her husband only four months before they married. The couple have now been married for 4 years and have a little girl of 2. This woman didn't say too much to me about her feelings now, but had confessed that she had not been in love with her husband the day they were married.

To me this thought was heart breaking. Imagine coming from a place where you had little or no say over who you would spend your life with. Imagine barely knowing the person you were to build a future with, share a home with, make a family of your own with, the last person you would see at night and the first person you would see of a morning. Imagine that on the day you promise to love and cherish this person for all eternity, you knew that you were not in love with them and wondered if you ever would be.

Every little girl dreams of the day she walks down the aisle wearing a beautiful white dress as she walks towards her prince charming. But as we get older and face the reality of love and marriage and it's sanctity, that dream often seems slightly far fetched.

Today's dream is less about the sun shining and the perfect dress and more about finding that special someone you can really know, trust and love. Someone who will stick it out for the tough times and not throw the towel in when marriage isn't always the picnic they had pictured it to be. Someone who will always remember that you have chosen each other and a life together.

I only hope that if that day comes for me, I can walk towards the alter and my prince charming knowing that love is what has bought us there, and have all the confidence in the world that love is what will make us last.


"Between a man and his wife nothing ought rule but love.
As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way to keep them well together."
- Never Marry But For Love, William Penn