"The End of Slavery" is the title of this object, a sculpture found in the courtyard of the local recreation center. I wish I could say I found it anything other than hideous.
But it does reinforce how much our concepts of right and wrong, honorable and dishonorable, good and evil can change. The grander themes are ownership, control, and exploitation of another human being. But beneath those overarching ideas are who can marry who, who can participate in government and business and at what levels, intellectual capacity vs. intellectual acceptance. Unlimited potential vs. enforced degradation.
I have wayyyy too many thoughts on this subject to write them all down here. I do, after all, have work to do today. But that ugly-ass sculpture does make me think of possibilities and how things can truly change for the better. I think that one day people may come to see our current concepts of "traditional" marriage the same way we look back at the "traditional" life of a plantation. I think that like the iron in that sculpture, what seems so unyielding is really in a continuous state of change. And it's for the better.
That is a pretty hideous sculpture. And I normally kinda dig 'modern'art.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo...I don't think it's really arguable that marriage isn't a kind of indentured servitude. It is. The heart of the question is whether it's benefits outweigh it's costs. Personally, I think of systems that are different from marriage sort of the same way I view communism. It's an ideal system. Practicable for a few very honest folk. But not something most people are really yet mentally and emotionally capable of handling. But one day...Ohhhh one day. I'll het free pussy AND free food! Sweet!