MARRIAGES ON THE RUN

‘For Sale’, ‘Reduced to Clear’, ‘Auction Sale’, ‘To Let’, ‘Promotional Sale’, ‘For Lease’, ‘For Renting’, ‘50% Discount’. Some married men and women are walking on the streets of Accra and Ghana with these tags placed on them by their partners without their knowledge.



Living individual lives do not nurture marriage

A song writer says ‘if you can’t tolerate an irate wife or lazy husband, tag on him or her ‘For Sale’. Marriage is the union of two individual lives as one. In other words, two lives become one with a common destiny, shared goals and ideals, common likes and dislikes and interests and a common purpose. More often than not, most married couples in a bid to please one partner or the other force their own interests or likes on the other. Some even live and do things as though they were still single.  If these two lives do not blend and metamorphorsize into one common life, there is no way happiness and joy will be present in such environment.

The Daily Graphic carried out a report by the AMA on an astronomical divorce cases in the Greater Accra Metropolis.  The figures looked so outrageous and alarming, but that is the truth of what is happening, even though these are only the officially reported cases. A number of factors come into play when issues of such nature are being discussed.  Since this is not a full paper I am putting up, one such factor I will like to comment on is ‘ignoring the little things’. When men are concerned about issues on the children’s education; finances; investments; business partners and accommodation, women are concerned about the ‘I love you’, ‘I care about you’, sorry and thank you that was never said and birthdays. The things that women cherish so much in their relationships are overlooked by men as those little things that do not matter. These little things generate into the bigger unsolvable problems in relationships.

You can’t believe that a young lady sought for divorce after barely eight months of marriage because her husband forgot her birthday and did not wish her such. Come to think of it, when you are dating or courting you remember every little thing about her, why should it be taken for granted when you marry?

I would like to end with these questions;

1.    Should marriage be a renewable contract? If yes, for how long? If no, why?

2.    If given the opportunity, what tag will you put on your partner?

3.   What tag do you think has been put on you?

Watch out for my piece on ‘To Have and to Hold’.