Rights? Privelages?
I've been pondering this one for a while now, and I think it is important to clarify the difference between a right and a privilege. A privilege, as most people agree, is something that one is allowed to do or not to do. It is something for which one has a choice. It is a privilege to drive a car. Not everybody gets to, or wants to drive. We may choose to, or to not drive. The choice is a privilege.A right, on the other hand, is something over which one has no choice. It is not a privilege to wear a seatbelt, because there is no option. Wearing a seatbelt is a right not only because people in the car deserve to be protected, but also because others deserve to not be given the arduous job of scraping them off the pavement. Webster defines a right as being something that is "...in accordance with moral or social standards." It is in accordance with moral and social standards that we respect ourselves and others by wearing a seatbelt.
It is not in accordance with moral and social standards, however, that people marry. We don't have to marry at all. We may choose to marry; we may also choose to not marry. As such, I feel compelled to put forward a question: why do we keep talking about these things called ‘marriage rights’? Marriage is a choice. Your choice. Your privilege.
Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me--a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.
~ 1 Corinthians 7:7, The Message
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