March assignment week 2 post 2

Of Marriage and single life

Central argument: Single life is greatly compatible with being rich, charitable and agile, married life on the other hand should only be considered if you have a lot of time to spare. 

Of Marriage and Single Life is an essay written by Sir Francis Bacon, in which he express the pros and cons of the two as observed by him. Single life allows men too move around and do as they please without having to think of a family back home for which he needs to provide. He also does not need to think of the impact his absence will have on any persons life cause when he is single others will still be able to survive without his presence however his family, if he were to have one, would require him to provide for them. 

Mother Teresa, although a woman, is a great example of what single life allows one to do. She was from a rich background in the Ottoman empire, this being the case if she were to be married it would have been really hard for her to travel to India and help the poor while living with them as one of them. To her the idea of marriage must have seemed like having a chain around her neck, since at the time women were considered to be obedient towards their husbands. This would have actually become the case since a rich husband from the Ottoman empire would have definitely not traveled to India at the time.

A look at a current event, the Arab Spring, shows us the power of single men. This can be said because when you look at what happened in places like Tahrir Square in Egypt and similar places in countries like Syria, you will see that the people who were finally standing up to the government were not men with wives or children, but rather were all single men. This was mainly due to the fact that these people did not need to think about providing for families but just needed to survive themselves. I feel that all a man needs is a corner of a street and a little bit of food and he can go on forever, however a family requires regular meals and a clean place to stay. It was due to this reason that men with families were unwilling to come out and rally against the government, since they needed to provide shelter and food for about 2 people other than themselves. 

Family men are also more conscience of the activities they take part in, my dad for example refuses to ever go scuba diving because he feels that his body will not be able to cope to the new environment of the sea. He says this without ever having even tried scuba diving. I on the other hand wish to have all kinds of experiences such as jumping out of planes, go deep sea diving and even air racing. I am most probably willing to do all these since I do not have to provide for a family like my father and so do not need to be in good health all the time therefore allowing me to take part in activities that some consider to be life threatening. 

Seeing my father I have come to realize that once married your life is not just yours anymore, but rather it becomes a sort of shared possession between you and your family. This brings down all sorts of boundaries in a once open field leading me to believe that one should only think about getting married once he has squeezed out all the fun that complete freedom has to offer.