by Tirzah Hawkins

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: September 24, 2011

Traditionally, more than one marriage is one too many. A marriage is a union between a man and a woman in which they commit to live as helpers and partners for each other for the rest of their lives. Today's society has warped that image; marriage is no longer a sacred thing that people take seriously.

In Biblical times, people were not allowed to divorce or remarry except in cases of adultery or death. This meant that if you divorced under any other circumstances, you were not allowed to get remarried or it would be considered adultery. This could result in the offending person being stoned.

More recently, yet still in the past, divorce was looked at as something shameful that people hid from their neighbors, friends and family. You didn't announce it if you got a divorce.

Today, divorce has become something all too easy to get. People can get divorced for just about any reason imaginable. Also, getting married has become too easy of a process as well.

Now people don't have to worry about getting a father's permission, courting for an extended amount of time or having an arranged marriage that they can't get out of. Also, in most cultures, a dowry is no longer required to get married.

People are able to go down to the local courthouse and get married, or they can drive to Vegas and marry their current boyfriend or any other person they may happen to meet.

Then, they wake up the next morning and don't know or don't like the person they find themselves lying next to. Well, they can just get a divorce. Or, even easier, they can get an annulment; and it would be like the marriage never happened.

Celebrities seem to be marrying and divorcing someone new every weekend. The divorce rate is growing at an alarming rate. Even my grandmother was married five times.

If the ability to divorce and marry was restricted a bit more like it was traditionally, people might take the commitment more seriously. They might wait longer before getting married, try harder to avoid getting a divorce and maybe work things out more.

We would probably see people get more counseling before and after getting married to help them learn to live and coexist with someone else. There would probably be a lot less single parent households and children growing up without the support and guidance of their other parent.

People need to realize that their actions affect other people as well. Not only are they a roll model for their kids and siblings but for society as a whole. We need to start taking more responsibility for our actions and that includes when we decide to get married.

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