After actress Cameron Diaz declared marriage “a dying institution,” New York Times best-selling author and psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow supported her comments in his article, 4 Reasons Why Marriage is a Dying Institution. In response to that article, here are our 3 reasons why marriage is awesome for you.
1. Marriage Done Well Makes you Less Selfish
Dr. Ablow’s premise that marriage is a dying institution because we are so much more enlightened now in the 21st century is off-base. It’s not the institution of marriage that is failing. It’s us. We, overall as a culture, are just more selfish. It’s all about us. I have needs and if they’re not met, I’m outta here. Rather, marriage done right isn’t as much about what we feel as how we can meet the needs of our spouse. It’s sacrificing ourselves to be others-centered, starting with our spouse. In a nutshell, the most vibrant marriages are also the least selfish. And this trait is acquired over a lifetime. The more selfless you become, the more you will love your spouse. And selfless, others-centered folks have a healthy spillover effect on their surrounding culture.
2. Marriage Done Well Makes You Healthier
Every single serious study ever done on marriage and singleness clearly shows that married folks live longer, healthier lives. Most recently, The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that compared with married people, people who are widowed are 40 percent more likely to die sooner, people who are divorced or separated are 27 percent more likely to die, and people who have never married were 58 percent more likely to die. The main reason? We were designed to be in a flourishing, monogamous relationship with a spouse. When we deny this, the very way we are made, our minds, bodies, and souls suffer.
3. Marriage Done Well is What’s Best for Your Kids
Similar to the overwhelming conclusion of marital studies on the impact of health, virtually all research shows that the two-parent home is what is best for children. Recently, The Future of Children, a journal published jointly by the non-partisan Brookings Institution and Princeton University, found that children from two-parent families are better off emotionally, socially and economically. Contrast that with the fact that the average prison inmate came from a single parent home according to the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated. Your kids need a healthy relationship modeled – your marriage.
