This morning I saw my neighbor pushing his wife in a wheelchair to get some air and have lunch. For over 30 years, I’ve been paying attention. I’ve counted. I’ve watched men push their wives in wheelchairs countless times. But in all that time, I’ve only seen one woman push her husband in a wheelchair. One.
Back in 1990, I met a woman who bathed, fed, and clothed her ailing husband until the day he died. She was 81 years old, still caring for the man she married when they were just teenagers. That was loyalty. That was commitment. Not words. Actions.
Today, women say “We married too young” as their excuse to walk away. They say they outgrew him. They say they’re finding themselves. But when I hear that, I think about that 81-year-old woman. She didn’t run when things got hard. She stayed. She didn’t outgrow her vows. She lived them.
When I see women filing for divorce the moment their husband loses his job, it turns my stomach. They took the vows for better or worse, but they only meant for better. The second worse shows up, they’re gone.
So what benefits do men have getting married today? You risk your income, your home, your kids, your peace. You give everything and get told you’re still not enough. The loyalty is gone. The reciprocity is gone. Marriage has become a contract where the man signs up to give and the woman reserves the right to leave with half.
That’s the deal men are being offered now. And it’s no deal at all.
