Divorce is not a bad word
February 24, 2009
Media credit: www.daylife.com
Time Magazine recently featured a story about Nujood Ali, a divorcee from Yemen. This story is remarkable because Ali is just 10 years old. She was forced into an arranged marriage with a man 30 years her senior whom she had never met.
On a daily basis, Ali’s husband raped and beat her. She constantly begged her parents to put an end to the marriage, but they did nothing. Ali took it upon herself to go the courthouse in downtown Sanaa, the capital city, to file for a divorce.
Ali succeeded, and has since inspired other young girls in Yemen and other countries to file for divorces as well from their abusive older husbands.
Divorce has always had a negative stigma attached to it. Even today, people still see it as something to be ashamed of, especially in America where more than 50 percent of marriages fall apart. For those who have gotten divorced, they are often perceived as failures, or too weak to have made their marriages work.
However, when we read stories like Ali’s, we realize that divorce isn’t all bad. The fact that this girl was able to break away from a horrible marriage helps those of us with skewed views on divorce realize what it’s actually about: freedom. Freedom to choose with whom you want to spend your life and freedom to live your life in a way that is healthy and happy.
