Column: Wedding days are losing their way
I initially chose this editorial because of something a Korean friend of mine mentioned last year. She said that Americans don't value marriage as much as other countries do. She said that divorce was something you would be ashamed about in Korea, but in America it seems to be very common and no big deal... In contrast to the concern about the large divorce rates, the author of this editorial is concerned about the method of marriage. The author establishes himself as a credible source because he was in the ministry for 25 years. Although, I don't know how far credibility really goes in Editorials when much of the information is presented in a biased manner. In this case the author was focusing on marriages initiated by a clergy as opposed to mariages performed by nonreligious or unauthorized people. The author argues that marriages not only need to be based on love, but need to be based around the promise. When the clergy is who the vows are made to, it makes the promise much more meaningful and solid. It would be alot more difficult to break a vow you made infront of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends than it would be to break one made in confidence just to the spouse. The author first applies to both logos and ethos, mentioning how a bad marriage effects people and their children and then bringing in actual facts and examples. Then he tries to establish himself as someone who would be an authority when discussing who ties your knot when he explains "I've done this before". Then he creates an analogy when trying to place the audience in the situation and questioning how they would act. I suppose the audience would be any American who has an interest in getting married. For me the author did not succeed in his purpose, I did not find his arguments to be concrete, and I don't think that the church is the only group that can create an environment that amplifys the importance of wedding vows.
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