Spouse and Vote - the consequences

At certain time of our lives, we are bound to ponder upon the more important matters in life. Naturally, there are many important persons and things in life. There are parents, siblings, friends, education, career, spouse, children, etc. Many important things in life are given and not chosen. There is no choice. For example, parents, siblings and children. They are all god given. Education and career are chosen to a certain extent but not entirely due to limitation of financial ability, etc. We choose friends, in a way, as much as they choose us. Friends can come and go over time as a matter of choice.

Choosing a spouse is a very key decision in a lifetime. It is in itself a very major decision to make whether to have a spouse or not. A choice of who is the spouse is part of that very major decision that one has to go through in most adult lives. Why is a decision on spouse so critical? This decision affects many persons and events surrounding our lives. I shall attempt to state a list of persons that may be affected by this decision:

1. Parents
2. Children, if any
3. Siblings


I believe these 3 categories of people are in themselves important people that may also influence our decision in deciding on a spouse. One usually cares strongly for these people and want the choice of a  spouse to have a positive impact on them as opposed to a negative one.

It has come to my mind recently that there is another decision that affects even more  people around us. This thing is called 'Vote'. Voting by the people is used in a democratic country to choose a government. It is then a government by the people, of the people and for the people. This is the beauty of democracy. Ordinary people like you and me have a say in the rules and environment that they live in. Democracy allows people to participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws.

Each individual's vote is very important in deciding a government that manage our lives and affairs. A choice of government may even be more critical than a choice of spouse. I shall do another attempt to state a comprehensive list of persons that may be affected by voting or choice of government:


1. Parents
2. Spouse
3. Children, if any
4. Siblings
5. Niece, nephews and relatives, etc
6. Neighbours, children of  neighbours
7. Friends
8. Future generations
9. Goodwill of current generations


You can see that on top of parents, siblings and children, there are many more people that are affected by our decision on a vote. It affects people whom we normally do not care about as much as our own family members. Remember that cute little daughter of your neighbour? Yes, your decision on who to vote for affects her too. The impact can be long lasting well beyond our lifetime.

I highlight goodwill of current generations in point 9. I believe it is something that we think less about.  We must remember that our future generations have to live with our decisions of yesterday and today. They will blame us for not voting wisely and choosing a good government. Only a good government can ensure good prospects for future generations.

Many parents wish to leave something behind for their children. They hope their children will have better or easier life than them. They usually leave wealth as inheritance. What I believe is that parents can do more than that. Parents can still pass on inheritance to their children. They should also leave a legacy that is more than just wealth. They should wherever possible leave a legacy of good government, laws and living environments to their children. They should stand up to what is believed to be wrong and put in efforts to correct a wrong. Go for short term pain but long term gain. There is no guarantee that long term gain will come but we must at least put our community in the right path. We are not here to pass our burden to our children and any future generations.

Whether it is a question on choice of a spouse or a vote, we must act with our long term interest in mind and more so the interest of our future generations at heart. Give a thought to those people that may be affected by our decision.