I had an argument with someone who stressed that with marriage comes responsibility irrational individuals are not capable of handling and that they should be legally punished for not taking care of their spouse. This was the gist of my argument.
Marriage is simply a recognition that two people love each other. I've always believed I can be married to some person who's not married to me. And that person can be married to some other person who's not married to him. Know what I mean?
Marriage is not a chain binding you to a person. It is an understanding that the two persons are together of their own free will and will continue to do so until they wish to be together.
Infidelity? Huh. Why the heck will someone be with someone if he/she wants to sleep around with twenty other people? Even so, it's the spouse's/his own choice if they want to continue their relationship or leave.
In a marriage, NO ONE takes responsibility of another. In life, NO ONE says I'll live so that you can live, or I'll suffer, so that you can be happy. Hell, no! What do you wish to achieve by making one of the partners unhappy in the marriage? The other too, can not remain happy(Unless the other is a sadomasochist, in which case, I'd have no sympathy with him/her). Besides, neither you, nor any government/society has any right to force an individual into anything. Marrying someone is a CHOICE. Taking care of someone is a CHOICE too. Believing you can sit around accumulating fat on your ass while your poor partner feeds you is a CHOICE too!
Marriage is only the "union of two soulmates" or the bond two people who love each other share. Kids and family are secondary, and don't come in anywhere immediately where marriage is concerned, even though popular belief says otherwise.EVEN if you have a legal/social/whatsoever contract binding you into marriage, you WILL NEVER be married until that bit about "mutual love and respect", "self-chosen and self-decided relationship with someone, whom you want to live with and look up to, forever" and the essence of "union of soulmates", is true. All else is hoax. The self-sacrificing, selfless creed is just an example of a cheat perpetrated upon marriage and an illusion the two want to make come true.