what IS marriage for?

supposed to be working on my research paper on Gay Marriages right now.. but after reading all the cases for and against gay marriages, im starting to wonder what exactly is the point of marriage.

Marriage, says the dictionary, is the formal union of a man and woman, typically recognized by the law, by which they become husband and wife.

Marriage, says the court, is the legal union of one man and one woman.

hmm. no wonder philosopher Richard Mohr wrote marriage to be "at least as legally understood, to be nothing but an empty space, delimited only by what it excludes-gay couples."

now, this is very strange, because i remember the initial reason for the gay push for marriage being that marriage is about love and since they love each other, they should be allowed to get married. and the conservatives insisted that marriage is for procreation, and therefore gays should not be allowed to get married.

but hey there is nothing DEFINITE that you must do or must not do to remain married. you can beat your wife, be adulterous and still remain married. few behaviors automatically end marriages, if you really think about it. i could lose my hypothetical driver's license by doing much less, really.

you can be celibate and get married, you can get married while living apart, you can get married without even being old enough to know what it is about, and you can even get married seconds before your blow your head off. its funny that secular law makes all sorts of provisions for people who ARE married, but rather little for people who want to GET married. in fact, the only requirement is consent by two parties - one man and one woman.

there are so many purposes for getting married. you get married to help feed your family, to bear children, to enhance your family's social status, to award someone for a heroic act ( :P ) the reasons are myriad. in fact, the most common reason for getting married in today's society, LOVE, is a relatively new idea. and ironically, associating marriage with love has lead to the skyrocketing of divorce rates.

hm. well you know.. this seems like such an interesting topic that i might just do it for my research paper instead haha!! :P okay better get going... my charriot turns into a pumpkin at midnight o.0

incidentally, this IS THE 1000th BLOGPOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

unfortunately i do not have time right now to attend to the blogskin... so another day it'll have to be!! adios!