[KillerGremlin]

I consider tax purposes a social implication.

Originally Posted by Professor S

To me I think the term family is subjective. Here is my definition: If you would sacrifice your life to save theirs, then they are a part of your family.

I think this definition is brilliant because it is probably an effective description of what kept early humans together thousands of years ago. I completely agree that my family will be a group of people that I will take a bullet for; however, just my immediate family because I have some annoying extended family .

Originally Posted by Combine 017

Id get married for lots of money from the divorce.

By joking you bring up a good point. Is the divorce/court system fair? Effective? Do fathers not have enough rights sometimes?


I see Typhoid is associating marriage with love and a sense to be together with someone forever. This is the most common association and in my opinion probably the most innocent: innocent like...a very natural reaction to "why are you getting married."

I guess as long as the word "bastard" exists, marriage will still be the best route to start a family. And I don't see that changing for a while. I haven't seen that word in this thread yet: Family. Family goes hand in hand with marriage.

Family, as in children? Why can't two people who are in love settle and never have kids? And what about gay couples who want to adopot children, but can't get married. That's a "family." And if you want, I read a few studies that suggest gay adopters make better parents thna some heterosexual parents. One thing we probably will agree on is that kids raised by "a family" tend to do better than kids raised by single parents...not to say some single parents don't do a helluva job, because I know there are some 19 year old moms out there who got knocked up and are busting their ass off trying to make cash to support their kid because daddy won't pay child support.

Originally Posted by The Germanator

Hmm, I'd get married if I was in love, but the forced feeling around it would certainly be based around social implications. I dunno, I've just seen so many divorces and troubled marriages around me that there are many times I wonder "what's the point? It seems like people eventually grow apart." Of course, the word marriage popped into my head towards the end of my last relationship. I was in love with her, but now that we've broken up I've begun to think that it could was a horrible mistake to even think about it.

Basically, what's weird to me is that it seems that once people get to a certain age and end up in a serious relationship, they just get married. For example, if I had the 2.5 year relationship I had with my ex when I was in my late 20s instead of my early 20s, it seems that the likelihood that we may have actually gotten married would have gone up big time.

I don't know, I'm kind of mixed up on the whole thing, but I suppose I'll just have to see if I can meet another girl that I feel like I can spend my life with.

Thank you for your honest and personal response. I agree, I think for a lot of people marriage is/has become a formality. I think people feel if they reach a point in their relationship they have to get married.