Marriage and Expiration Dates

I am fairly confident that  Irene Suchocki is my favorite photographer. Seriously. Here, she photographs heart-shaped lights in the streets of Paris.

My husband sent me the following article on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, he explained that he intended the article to be shared here on the blog. [Whew!] ...

The title of the article, published by ABC News: MEXICO CITY CONSIDERS TEMPORARY MARRIAGE LICENSES

According to Reuters, proponents of temporary marriage licenses believe that divorce--and all of the hassles and headaches that come with it--could be avoided if temporary marriage licenses were made optional. Couples could always renew the license if things are going well. But for those marriages that "aren't working out," the couple could easily and quietly walk away on expiration day.

Dear Mexico, REALLY?

See, here's the thing. Expiration dates are tacked onto objects that are expected to fail, i.e., milk, medicine, chemicals. Items that are expected to last--i.e, furniture, clothing, buildings--don't usually come with shelf lives or warranties. Why? Not because these objects are incapable of falling apart, but because we build them to last.

The problem with divorce (resulting in headaches and hassles) isn't primarily the process of divorce--it's the fact that divorce is happening at all. In my mind, the scenario goes like this:

Everyone is getting the flu. Instead of teaching people the steps to take to stay healthy, let's give everyone easier access to the illness so that getting sick is less complicated.

The problem, in my opinion, is that we are more concerned about the hassles of paperwork than we are the prevalence of divorce. Where we should be building fortresses around the institution of marriage, we are creating exit strategies.

The reality of marriage is that two imperfect human beings are choosing to live as one. That will never be an easy process as long as human beings are flawed. As soon as we slap expiration dates on marriages we make failed marriages a greater, more acceptable phenomena.

And then ... nobody wins.

According to the article, the proposed legislation will be voted on in Mexico by year's end. Let's see what happens.