So much has been said
about the relationship between marriage and happiness: some view it as the beginning of happiness for every responsible person, while others see it as one form of enslavement or the other.
This, perhaps, explains the reason why while some are stepping out of it almost by the day, others would do anything to “get hooked up together”, as they fashionably put it these days, even if it is just for a short while.
No matter how one looks at it, marriage is originally supposed to be a traditional union hinged on happiness. The Bible, the holy book for Christians also acknowledges this when it say, he who findeth a wife, findeth a good thing”.
The “good thing” here implies  that couples are expected to bring about happiness to each other. Reality has however made it such that marriage often does not amount to happiness.
A critical analysis of the word “findeth” reveals that the holy book actually expects one to search for his or her spouse in order to find him or’ her. But developments, or realities, have shown that the mode of search applied by various individuals, their mindset at the point of the search, their temperament, and other factors have been the problem in either finding the spouse, or the happiness accruable therein.
In spite of these obvious impediments to finding a spouse, and, expectedly, happiness, it is now common knowledge that realities of life” society, orientation, and the like, have separated finding a spouse and automatically finding happiness.
The result is either extra-ordinary happiness in marriages that often becomes the envy of people around, who may, for whatever reason worked assiduously for its success or failure, as well as extra-ordinary unhappiness in marriages as a result of sudden realisation  of incompatibility. Each of these scenarios has its appendages that may be too broad to discuss within available space:
The essential thing to note is that as a result of the fore-going realities, four key types of people are easily identifiable in matters relating to marriage: those who are happily married; those who are unhappily married; those who are unhappily unmarried, and those who are happily unmarried.
Depending on the side it would take a’ lot of confidence, self-determination and willingness to openly accept the part one fits into, especially if one finds it difficult to accept ones’ realities (if not openly, personally) and work towards  resolving  it without laying the blame on his/her spouse.
For those who are happily married, they often do not appreciate what they have until they have cause to complain about a perceived ill-treatment, carelessness, lack of understanding, etc, on the part of their spouse to a true friend or relative.
Experience has shown that it’s only a true friend or relative, with requisite knowledge and willingness, that can look at you eye-ball- to-eye-ball and tell you things straight, whether you are right or . wrong.
If you are unfortunate to complain to the wrong person, it could be the beginning of the end of the marriage, or courtship, for that matter. This is simply because not everybody believes that a couple could have such a relationship that even when there is disagreement, it is viewed strictly as a corrective issue, not an opportunity to make problem.
If they see it that way, it does not only becomes possible to take instant correction and avoid a re-occurrence, but also doing so becomes uppermost in their minds. If they see it from any other perspective, the relationship will in the near future nosedive into separation.
For those who are unhappily married, the simple truth, no matter how you look at it, is that in most cases, something else brought them into the relationship.
There was this marriage that ended in less than six months after the wedding. The only thing that kept it up to over a year was that the woman got pregnant shortly after the wedding.
Investigations revealed that the man got carried away by the fact that the woman had Masters Degree, and could discuss fluently in what he called “well-polished” English. He did not bargain for another fact that being an introvert, that same quality she has could also be too much for him to handle when he is the target, as it turned out.
This does not mean that genuine love cannot turn sour when the beneficiary is the wrong person. The fact that he or she turns out to be the wrong person is, at the end of the day, proofs that the relationship was based on some level of falsehood, usually on the part of the recipient of the genuine love.
In essence, if genuine love is not a two-way thing, if it’s one-way, coming from either only the man or the woman, the relationship may at best be marking its time. But then, there are also situations in which recipients of genuine love at some point suddenly realise it and reciprocate. These are rear cases.
Experience has also shown that most of those who are unhappily unmarried turn out to be sadists. Sometimes not because they want to, but often because they cannot help transferring the aggression.
Unconsciously, they always want to prove to society that they can be better in anything they do.
The worst of them can hardly accept their faults, sometimes because they feel that society is already crucifying them because of their fate, even before giving them opportunity to prove themselves right. The good thing about them is that they can be good in whatever, just to prove themselves.
For those who are happily unmarried, such happiness most often lasts as long as they feel young enough to have their flings. They enjoy the euphoria of basking in the cheap popularity accorded by society, only to realise when it’s too late that the same popularity has become their greatest undoing.
The sincere ones among them accept their fate and take life the way it comes, often consoling themselves by recounting “the good old days” at  the least opportunity. The insincere ones, on the other hand, blame everybody but themselves for their’ plight, with a possibility of getting angry at everybody at some point, especially when society judge them to be losers.

Soibi Max-Alalibo

Women at a public function in Port Harcourt. They are pillars in matrimonial homes