Aging And Marriage Essay, Research Paper

Reaction Paper: Marriage and Aging

A big aspect in keeping a marriage successful is how much communication occurs between the two people involved. For a healthy relationship there is a need for quite a bit of communication. Communication, as stated in class, is one of the key elements to a successful marriage. There has to be some open discussions and trust in the relationship to make it anywhere. If you can not talk to your partner you will not be able to solve problems in a healthy manner. You have to be able to tell your partner things to help you learn and mature with them. You have to learn how to compromise and help each other out. Communication has to be part of your relationship in some way. You cannot go through your life not talking to your partner about important issues that you should be able to talk to them about.

Another important issue discussed in class was homosexuals and marriage. Homosexual marriage is an important issue because it deals with a relatively large minority of the United States. This issue is important today with respect to many different ideas. There are so many ideas of morals, family values, and those of equality, constitutionality, and right to privacy. The aspect with the most relevance is constantly left up to debate. Homosexuals are ‘gay’ due to a combination of factors. These factors are environment and society-the outside influences- and genetics.

Hence, homosexuals do not decide their own sexuality, nor do heterosexuals. Therefore, homosexuals should have the same rights as heterosexuals, one of these rights being marriage. This is why it is of great importance to public policy whether or not homosexuality is predetermined. I am not homosexual and I am not writing this to defend homosexuals. I just believe that the whole issue is unfair towards homosexuals.

Marriage goes beyond the benefits, however. The institution of marriage is a very respected one, and holds much sentimental value for many people. In America, all men are to be created equally. Does this exclude homosexuals? Many think so simply because they believe that marriage is not a right, but a privilege. This argument means that because gays are not going to bring a child into the world naturally, they do not deserve the privilege of marriage. That doesn’t seem fair.

Different age groups hold their own opinions with marriage issues. Some young people, ages 18-25 are used to gays because gays have emerged in this generation. Middle aged people may feel fine with the issue or ticked off. People with families could feel that homosexual marriages around their community are different and unappealing. Older individuals have gone through the aging process and have not been familiar with gay issues until recently in the past twenty years. Since they are older, they are more old fashioned and are used to thinking the way they thought years and years ago. This is simply that a man and a woman fall in love, get married, have children and grow old together. But a homosexual marriage is an issue that these older citizens need to be faced with. Women make up majority of that older population and have a life expectancy that is longer than men’s. As a result of longer lives, women are expected to experience chronic illnesses and disabilities. They are also more likely to live alone, be single and become poor in their old age. Visiting a cemetery, you can notice that the majority of the people deceased were elderly men. This concludes maybe that men were more of the hard workers before, who gave women the opportunity to take better care of themselves and in turn they lived longer lives. The elderly are treated differently all around the world.

The percentage of elderly people in the United States has tripled since 1900, the population of elderly is expected to double between now and the year 2030. Not only is the number greater, but they are also living much longer. Even though there is a large population of elderly people in the United States, we as a society overlook them as if they aren’t there. I think it is wonderful when I see an older couple that has been married for a long time. This means that they have taken their marriage very seriously and are still committed to each other. Having a successful marriage is more difficult in today’s world than fifty or sixty years ago. In the future, I believe there will be more and more single women and men because of all the miscommunications between the two. As stated before, marriage is something to take seriously and work hard at keeping one. By communicating well with one another, a married couple may be happy and grow old together.