With the remnants of Valentine’s Day still in the air, the topic of love resonates in the minds of many Leesville students.
However, as many students ponder future relationships, the initial “head over heels” feeling of romance is disregarded, and money is slowly integrated into the equation.
According to Smart Girls Marry Money: How Women Have Been Duped Into the American Dream, by Daniela Drake and Elizabeth Ford, the “butterflies” feeling of “love” evaporates within 18 to 24 months, leaving some with broken hearts–and broken banks.
Drake and Ford propose that “marrying for money” is not materialistic or shallow, but a smart financial decision.
An anonymous Leesville Student agrees, “If I reached a certain age and met someone that I wasn’t romantically interested in but who was a friend that could provide financial security, I might [marry him]. A marriage based on friendship and security may last longer than one that’s precarious at best and based on attraction.”
Bilo Hoese, junior, agrees with the principle of “marrying for money.” “It’s an efficient and effective way of living a comfortable life if you have no choices. Love has no relevance what-so-ever when the situation concerns sustaining yourself.”
Jared Dix, senior, disagrees. “It’s [marrying for money] an inhuman, desperate act. Materialism is not love, by any means.”
For Drake and Ford, marrying for “love” resulted in divorce, propelling them to consider money as the most important factor in a relationship.
Morgan Burke, junior, understands Drake and Ford’s logic.
“I think that love needs to be the biggest impetus to get married, but I also think that the other person having at least enough money to independently support themselves is important. They don’t have to be mega-wealthy, but you don’t want a dead weight person that you have to financially support. Money is something that you have to rationally think about before marriage. People want to think that life will just be all happily ever after and you’ll fall hopelessly in love and nothing will go wrong or get in the way.”
Despite the reasoning behind Burke’s statement, many Drake and Ford sympathizers are accused of being “gold diggers.”
Brittany Laraia, junior, said, “Girls can get a bad rep for marrying rich, but what if they actually love the guy? Are they still considered a gold digger?”
Neither Drake nor Ford though, proposes marrying a multi-million dollar athlete, a CEO or digging for gold. They simply present the realities that many seem to forget: life does require money and a marriage is a partnership.
In order for a relationship to function successfully both parts must contribute. The issue then is not simply money, but stability—it is not dollar amount that is important to people, but the feeling of regularity and assurance.
Overall though, Leesville students attribute more significance to love than money.
Jessie Halpern, senior, said, “Love is number one. As far as my beliefs are concerned, it seems to me that if you have love, you can stick together until you have money.”
