FRAGMENTS - THE SEGMENTS

Family Seminar👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

It was on last Thursday, my friend Dani invited me over to a family seminar conducted by a group of experts. I'm not that kind of a person who turns up at seminars and debates, all I care about in life is how well am I living my life, since I had only one life, I believed in living it to the fullest. The seminar, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, was conducted on the zoom platform. The first one hour had all those usual speeches that always bored me; I was really sleepy when the main speaker was finally invited to speak. Having promised my friend that I'll listen, I rubbed the sleep off my eyes. The guest speaker, Dr. V. Tony Alexander, had a very base and strong voice. He'd sound as loud as me even if he whispered, I said to myself. His topic of sermon, he said, was Family.

He cracked a few jokes about some relatable family incidents, and I wish not to repeat them. But then he did something that usually, as far as I've seen, rarely done. He announced that, the rest of his speaking time was gonna be based on questions from the audiences. I thought I had dozed off the major part of his speech but I looked at the time and knew I had missed nothing. Is it because he has nothing to speak about, I thought to myself; and quiet surprisingly; he answered that question as like he had read my mind. I thought, at the silence, that no one had any doubts about family; but then suddenly someone spoke up, with a fancy name and no video. He, I knew from the voice, asked something that totally took me by surprise;

'We call matrimony Holy, but doesn't everyone marry just to fulfill their carnal lusts?'

There was a silence of ten seconds before Dr. Tony replied with a question,

'I've always believed marriage is holy and divine as it is established by Almighty God; what made you think it is just to fulfill carnal lusts?'

The boy, of whatever age, replied to that and said, 'Perhaps, you didn't think that way, but everyone marries to have children and continue their lineage, isn't children born out of carnal lusts?'

I could see a smile on every faces visible. In the little time, that Dr. Tony took to find a suitable answer, I thought to myself about an answer to this question. It is Eros that what prompts a married/unmarried to couple to involve in an inter-course and conceive. So what that boy raised was in a way true, I thought to myself. 'What our friend here said is right,' I could hear Dr. Tony speak, 'every marriage starts in Eros and is established in Agape. It is when the couple begins to love one another unconditionally, that the bond is actually secured, otherwise it can break anytime, and it is when it is established in Agape that we can call it successful. After that, you send them through the toughest trials, they will come out together. That is the magic of matrimony.'

True, I speculated, there's no element of lust when the skin all bad and wrinkled. What pleasure can be got when all the organs are tired and aged, even if, how long I thought? I called myself back to the present, and another question was awaited; a person with a video and name spoke,

'Marrying the wrong person can lead to egos clashes and strives disrupting the family peace, as in that case, divorcing is the only option out,' the man asked, 'is it wrong then, to divorce?'

'Every family is a place of love, care and cooperation; every family can never satisfy the personal expectations of everyone. We should be prepared for anything and should be able to adjust to everything that turns up against our expectations. Let me tell you a story,' Dr. Tony sighed before he began the story, 'I know a professor, a very good man, he is around the same age as me now. Back when in his 20s, he was an enthusiastic, gifted and vivid young man who any father would love to have as his son. After completing his studies, he secured a job as a teacher in the government sector. His parents believed he could get married and so began seeking a bride for him. Soon he was in the church, tying the knot; he was married, to a bride from a decent family. After the celebrations wrapped up, he got into to the room to soon realize a dreadful truth; his wife was a mental patient. She existed normally on a large array of medicines and tablets. Over the course of time, his family, friends and relatives came to know about it. Many of them strongly advised him to divorce her, his friends also asked him to lodge a complaint against the bride's family for cheating him. He was clueless about what to do. Troubled in heart, one day, he walked into the church where he tied the knot. He sat there for some time, thought about the day he got married. The church was filled with an atmosphere of excitement and joy; he too was very joyful that day. As he was brooding over the thoughts of that day, he remembered something; he had made a promise that day to his bride. Despite whatever may come to pass, be it good times or bad times, he had promised to be with her through it until death separates them. Then, he said a prayer and went back home. Today, every night he goes into his room with a handful of medicines for his wife, he had decided that day to be with her until death separates them. He adjusted to the surprises life gave him, without complaining he has moved on. Matrimony is a bond pledged to God and your partner, tough times come, but stick on, you'll surely have a blessed tomorrow than a better tomorrow. This is Matrimony.'

As Dr. Tony made an end to his story, unluckily, I had a power-cut and my desktop screen went taking along my Wi-Fi. But I felt that was enough, I was contented; I was so concentrated that I didn't know that it's been an hour since the talk had begun. Then I thought I had to get some sleep, I was getting married the next day.