Marriage! Weddings, all that shit.

         The beautiful thing about my life is that, while I don't live all too exciting of a life, I do just enough different things to get some material to do these blogs, which is the only hard part of having a blog, incidentally. I love sitting down and writing, I love the whole process that goes into writing a blog, but I have a hard time finding enough things to blog about sometimes. I have ideas for things to write about, but I talk myself out of them sometimes for any number of different reasons.
         Anyways-my topic for this one. If you read the title, and I'm sure you did, you'll see it's about the ceremonious rite known as marriage. Just the day before writing this (May 31) I went to a cousin's wedding. As far as weddings go, it was a good time. The ceremony itself was short, only about 15 or 20 minutes, everybody was nice, free food, open bar, good music; it was a good time. And the bride, my cousin, gave me a very unexpected compliment on my podcast. And most importantly, she got even closer to a man that she absolutely adores and is completely in love with. Congrats to the two of them.
        Of course, anybody that knows me knows that I could never dedicate a whole blog just to congratulating two people on getting married. I've got to put my twist on the topic. So here it goes. Let me first say that I have zero problem with anybody who buys into the concept of marriage. I actually think that the idea is absolutely beautiful for people who believe in what marriage is supposed to represent and enter into it with the best of intentions. That being said, I just don't think it's for me. There was a time when I dreamed of a wedding and really hoped for one, but what drove me away from the idea was twofold. One part was divorce. I've seen divorces go down firsthand, and it's amazing how much spite can come from what was once a loving relationship. I'm not sure where exactly it comes from. I don't know if it's that the relationship wasn't that great to begin with, or if it's something that comes out because of the divorce itself. But the spite that comes into play, especially when there's a lot of money involved, is amazing. I have heard a story of a man that was a comedian and actor and he went through a divorce while he was doing a hit show and making good money so he had to pay a shit-ton of money in alimony, even after he stopped doing the show. So he stopped doing the show, wasn't making that much money, but still had to pay the amount based on what he was making while doing the show. And mind you, this was with no kids involved. And it's common for one party to drag out the court proceedings and delay them as much as possible to drag more and more money out of the other person. It's fuckin crazy. Joe Rogan has described it as being like "going to war and having to pay for the other people's general."
        The second thing that taints the idea of marriage for me is just having to have government involvement. I try to involve the government in as little of my affairs as necessary. And I think that in all actuality, the only difference between just being with somebody you love for a long time and marriage is a piece of paper. Now, of course, people with spiritual beliefs or other cultural views would disagree, but for me, that's the only difference. And I say I don't need a piece of paper to show that I actually love someone and am dedicated to them for life. I think, even if you are religious, if you can just be dedicated to somebody you love, then what's the difference? And that way, if things don't work out, you just leave each other and that's that. No lawyers, no crazy alimony, no drug out court cases of hate; just go your separate ways. Of course, things change when there are kids involved. I think, for example, if two people are married and have kids, and one of them chooses to stay at home with the kids rather than work, and they were to get divorced, I think it would be fair for the other person to pay that person some money just to help them get on their feet after the divorce. And I totally agree with child support. I think there are certain situations where child support is misused, but I know personally that there are people that use that money correctly and really need it to get by and raise their children.
          So, summary-I don't think I'll ever get married. For me, I don't think that there's really any reason to. I'm happy with my girlfriend now and I consider her my wife; I don't think we need a piece of paper to show that. However, for certain people, marriage works out fine and they're happier because they made the decision, and good for them!
         And congrats to my cousin Monica and her new husband Jim! I wish them the best of luck and a very happy future together!
         The average home creates more pollution than the average car.
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        And lastly, if you have any suggestions for improvements or, even better, if you have a topic you want to hear me rant about, please shoot me a Tweet or you can email me. Peace!