Tetra,
"i think marriage is a totally unrealistic institution. especially in our modern society. not only is it about ownership, but it's just a freaking piece of paper!"
You have raised an a very interesting issue here, one that i have spent countless hours discussing with a friend who almost totally shares your view. My position was that family is the cornerstone of a functioning civilised society, his position was there are alternatives if you can't get marriage right and no harm done to society if every Tom, Dick and Harry comes from a divorced or broken home.
I'm not a social scientist so I can't talk with professional authority but I was under the impression that happy families with both loving parents present make for a better environment for children to grow in and thrive. Less stress and less emotional problems for young ones to deal with hence healthier personalities can emerge at the end of it. I don't see how one can refute this.
I strongly believe therefore that children growing up in a family unit where both parents are present and loving make for a better society, after all children are always the future of which ever society they belong to.
This sounds contradictory to my first post but here I'm talking about children and what is best for them and society rather than what is best for two individuals that want to live together.
I think that's a more cynical view than what is going on in reality. My father loved my mother more, later on in life, than he did earlier in their marriage. He would have done anything for her. There are many people's testimonials that give credence to the idea that love continues and grows with years.
