MARRIAGE?

I was delivering a lecture on marriage and family to one of my sociology classes this afternoon when a beautiful, sophisticated but scornful lady at the back of the room challenged me.She argued that my opinion that marriage was the greatest career for a woman was wrong. She further argued that marriage is almost finished and that it was not desirable or even necessary for one to link themselves with one person and limit themselves to that person for the rest of their life. Her words are still vivid in my mind."Sir, I'm sleeping with a fellow that i like, i don't want to marry him and i don't think he intends to marry me. This is not my first love affair and probably won't be my last. i cant see anything wrong with this. Someday when and if i choose to have a child i may be forced by the society to marry, but until that time i shall not be part of it. if i ever do choose to and the relationship goes bad i shall not be trapped in it." she even substantiated her assertion with a question,"why cant a man-woman relationship be just as meaningful outside of marriage as it is in it?" I paused for a moment before responding. In my submission i clearly highlighted that if it doesn't have the commitment then it surely doesn't have the permanence. i further argued that, it takes brains and determination, time and effort to make marriage good and the rewards are just enormous. I then defined marriage as the total commitment of the total person for a total way of life, a relation between a man and a woman in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal. Yes! I have to admit that the discussion was a thriller and i really enjoyed.