2008 Woodie Awards
Marriage should be considered sacred, nurse says
By Stephanie Mikneus
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
Originally published: 2/28/08 at 5:12 PM CSTLast update: 2/28/08 at 5:10 PM CST
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Elizabeth Woods is a Wesley nurse, who is charged with providing physical, mental and spiritual resources to promote healing and wellness to nurture the congregants.
A contract is easily broken and Woods believes that marriage should be considered as a life-long commitment.
"You become the marriage of you and your spouse," she said. "This is why I don't agree with two halves becoming whole."
A marriage is a creation, not a completion. She advised students to be an individual before entering a relationship.
In marriage, the clergy reads "will you" not "do you" when you take your spouse's hand in marriage. This is because it is a statement of commitment, not a command, Woods said.
Woods has been married for eight months and most of her information has been provided through close friends and professionals.
"Half of marriages end in divorce," Woods said. "People are getting married as a thought of 'We can marry, and if it doesn't work out, we can just go out and get a divorce'."
She also believes that there was a lower divorce rate in the past because couples did not feel as if divorce was an option.
She feels that perhaps this is partly due to people entering relationships with an unrealistic view of what love is.
Woods urges others to disregard the sort of romance seen in Hollywood movies such as "Bridges of Madison County" or "Sleepless in Seattle" that present the idea of a soul mate. The premise of having a soul mate is that there is one person for everyone to fall in love with, and when the two meet, they are perfectly compatible.
This forces a lot of expectations out of your significant other, Woods said.
She warns to not become "love obsessed," such as when Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" changed her species for love. She said students should enter the relationship being comfortable with who they are.
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