Divorce
I work for a company that employs people from around the world. Because of that, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the different cultures of the people I worked with. I got to know Americans, Italians, Brits, Australians, Japanese, Chinese, Indians and many more.
Because of this diversity, very interesting conversations materialize during lunch or coffee breaks. One such discussion was about arranged marriages and divorce. You see back then, I had a colleague who had requested for a month long PTO (personal time off). When we asked, he revealed that he was going to meet his future wife and her family for the first time.
We were like… whaaaat?
It was true. His parents had already arranged his marriage the day he was born. We all launched on him with our questions and queries. All of us could not accept that in this day and age, arranged marriages still exist. And not only did they exist, but many intelligent and sensible human beings actually accept this situation and embrace it in their lives.
But amidst all the commotion, we sensed our friend getting irritated. He stopped us with a compelling statement. He said …
“What is so wrong with arranged marriages? Do you know that in India, where majority are involved in arranged marriages, divorce rate is very low? In America where you are free to choose who you spend your life with, half of all unions end up in divorce?”
Hmm, come to think of it - if you look at the divorce rate numbers you may be inclined to be taken by it. Would you submit yourself to an arranged marriage? I know I won’t.










