What do globalization and marriage have in common?

"Marriage is not just about sex" was a statement I made in a discussion with a class of International Relations students, when we were talking about globalization. I presented on Jagdish Bhagwati's well-known work, "In Defense of Globalization," and I was echoing his point about the anti-globalization crowd missing the point with statements such as "globalization is the institutionalization of the corporate elite's exploitation of the underprivileged."

I was bringing up a point a fellow blogger made ("Marriage: a history of obscurity and misery"), concerning the idea of abolishing the institution of marriage in India. The assumption that marriage is nothing more than the institutionalization and legitimation of sex was a concept that I found disturbingly inaccurate. Just like Bhagwati's point, about the largely benign impact, and even intent, of globalization, that gets overlooked by the anti-globalization rhetoric, I emphasized the fallacy of oversimplification to the class.

The marriage example is a perfect analogy. Even though certain individual cases of marriage might have abusive sexual occurrences, to equate such negative instances with the whole of the institution of marriage is missing the complexity, beauty and even essential nature of marriage and its resulting family unit.

Marriage is the coming together of not only two individuals of the opposite sex and all that entails, these two individuals also represent two distinct family traditions and values. And these two people are passing on the wisdom of their own traditions and experiences to the next generation of humanity. This is the basic unit of human society, where naturally the love the parents have for the children is the fuel for the improvement of human society for the next generation.

In a world where the concept of freedom is obtaining ever greater significance in people's lives, the challenges that come with marriage, involving people needing to go beyond their limited comfort zones, has led to an increasing number of people opting out. Especially in today's world of integration, marriage might mean the coming together of people with completely different cultural backgrounds and their corresponding values, and it isn't easy.

However, the breaking up of families is not a sign of the invalidity of the family. In a world of changing values, the family, as a unit, is also growing. It is requiring those stepping into this fundamental unit to be more mature and wiser. This is the wisdom that the current generation of parents needs to be passing down to the children.

Just as marriage is much more than just an institution for legitimate sexual relations, "globalization" is a phenomenon that involves much more than just the economic dealings between the developed and developing nations. What some might label as the "abusive" relations between the "haves" and "have-nots" in today's world should not cause people to want to stop and drop the progress that is being made.

Rather, the problems in the system, such as immature partners not ready for the responsibilities of a relationship, need to be recognized and the answers to these problems, perhaps personal awareness brought through education, need to be sought after.

Human life is a process of growth and development, and there are certain pains involved when one has to go beyond the comfort zone that one has gotten accustomed to. Still, this journey has brought us to an ever improving human reality, one where today a half-Asian, half-white American man like myself can receive a quality education and have the chance to work to bring about a world where all people can strive to achieve their dreams.