A new relationship, a new family, a new social unit, a new dynamic. New children, new experiences, new memories, new challenges.
I believe that working to develop a stable, self-sufficient, nuclear family is the best way to impact my community, my country, and the world. I see the good that has come from my grandparents' posterity in only two generations, and I am amazed at the ability of families to change the world over time. We see it for the better and for the worse all around us. I hope my family will bring change for the better.
Men and women are different. I believe both genders offer different lenses through which to view the human experience. I want to experience the whole spectrum of humanity in a way that is only possible through a combination of the masculine and feminine in the context of an equal partnership.
I imagine this is the hardest, yet most deeply rewarding aspect of a marriage relationship.
“The more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular. … I often … think passionately of serving mankind, … and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days … As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I can begin to hate even the best of men: one because he takes too long eating his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps blowing his nose.”
How is this to be overcome? By the practice of active love.
“Try to love your neighbors actively and tirelessly. The more you succeed in loving, the more you’ll be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of your soul.”
-Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov