Thursday, September 27, 2018

I'm Not Getting Married

CAUTION: This post has references to Christianity. Viewer discretion is advised.

Before you tell me to "grow up" or "get a job", note that I am aware of the risks of romantic relationships, and I can stop one whenever I think it's wise to do so.

I'm not saying that marriage and having children are bad in themselves. I just don't think it's right for me.
If you and your (future) spouse are willing to work hard, then enjoy your married life.

Some of you may know that I'm a hopeless romantic--one who actively pursues romantic relationships. I read about gender-related topics often, I bought a book about marriage, and I think I'm much nicer to girls than to boys. (Don't worry, player4709, I still treat you as nicely as I can.)

And, while it may be obvious from the above description that I want to get a girlfriend, I predict that a similarly obvious implication might be me wanting to get married. After all, friends, family, fanboys, and fangirls usually freak out when a person they like or are related to gets married. (Yes, I have fanboys in my home Minecraft server, and I find most of them annoying.) If the person involved is a well-known singer or actor, the news can also go crazy.

Problem is, I don't want to get married, mainly because of how hard my mother works to raise her three children, and how she often gets into heated arguments with my father about him not helping in household chores.
Here are the reasons in list form, because I'm lazy to write in essay form:

  • Romantic feelings are usually strong moments before marriage, but they can weaken during marriage. Since I have bad anger management, I may get into heated arguments with my wife which may escalate into a fist fight. I am also VERY lazy.
  • Unlike being "in a relationship" (i.e. boyfriend and girlfriend), getting out of marriage is harder because it's a legally and religiously mandated responsibility to stick to the marriage, unless there is a perfectly legitimate reason to separate, annul, or divorce, if applicable for the situation, country/state, and/or religion.
  • The vast majority of Filipinos (i.e. citizens of the Philippines) are Christians, and if I'm not mistaken, married Christians are obligated to procreate at least once.
  • Having even just one child means MASSIVE expenses for about 20 years, more or less. They include, but are not limited to: food, water, education, and toys. (Not having a kid means I will have millions of dollars to spare for personal needs and wants.)
  • Similarly, kids are a waste of time and energy. For example, returning home from work just to check on the kids' homework or play with them is not worth it when I can avoid marriage and enjoy uninterrupted, hard-earned rest.
  • Babies can cry for hours, 4 to 12 year olds can constantly nag and beg, and teenagers can be cocky and violent.
  • Natural bad traits like the ones above are predictable and mildly tolerable, but it's even worse if my child inherits my own bad traits, especially the negative characteristics of Asperger's syndrome. I don't want to raise a worse version of myself. Plus, I never change my lunatic ways no matter how much others try, so I wouldn't dare take the risk of trying to change a child's behavior.
  • According to the World Health Organization (2016), the average worldwide life expectancy is 72.0 years, and in the Philippines, it's 69.3. Assuming that Filipino children must start school at 4 years old and don't fail any school subjects, they'll be 21 by the time they finish school (due to the K-12 curriculum having 13 years of education) plus a 4-year college course. That's almost one-third of my life wasted on just one kid.
  • I agree with Ivann Baloran's answers to the pro-marriage arguments he illustrated in this blog post, but I'll add on to them. #1: Children have the right to be independent when they become adults, especially if they get married and have their own families, houses, and jobs. They don't have a law- or religion-mandated responsibility to become the parents' "personal caregiver" at this life stage. Part of Genesis 2:24 NIV says: "...a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." #2: Video games and boxing are more entertaining for me than watching my own children get their own children. #3: I can live a perfectly happy life by having a stable job I like and good friends or a good girlfriend. Having kids will NOT make me less lonely.
  • TL;DR summary: I don't want to get married because of a higher chance of raging at my wife and huge losses of money, time, and energy from raising children.
P.S. New blog post by player4709 about friends: http://player4709esc.blogspot.com/2018/09/friends.html

P.P.S. I think I planned to avoid marriage since I was 13 years old.

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