MARRIAGE

Tomorrow, for the second time in as many weeks, my wife and I will be attending the wedding of a family relation. We are always pleased when we have an opportunity to witness young couples entering into a lifetime commitment to each other and raising a family. It is also a joy to visit with numerous relatives who congregate to congratulate during these happy occasions.

Unfortunately, not all marriages start out on the best footing. I’ve heard some people state they are getting married because they ‘discovered’ they were pregnant. I congratulate them for getting married, but am puzzled by their apparent surprise at pregnancy – they talk as though it is a random chance event that periodically appears out of the blue. Are they unaware of the link between male/female activity and procreation?

As I contemplate this, it occurs to me that a surprising number of people are confused on the nature of male and female. In fact, there appears to be enough individuals in this category that there is talk of dropping the male/female designation on passport applications as one way to address this issue. But there is an easy answer for those who are confused over their identity – one we all learned in science class years ago. Male humans are conceived with an XY chromosome while female humans are not. If this criteria were incorporated into the legal designation, I think a lot of subjective debate and confusion would go away. Perhaps the recent earthquake in Washington will generate movement in this direction.