> Here in Gaza, where men can realistically aspire to polygamy, I have yet to
> meet one who actually does. While I've run across a few old-timers with
> more than one wife, younger men tend to think one is enough - which
> doubtlessly has something to do with a man's singular obligation to provide
> for his family.
There's a foolishness curve in the lives of men. We're really incredibly foolish at 16, a bit less so, perhaps, at 18, and the curve reaches its minimum sometime in our late thirties or early forties.
It levels off for a while. Then it starts to climb again.
Of course there might be other aspects to the old-timers' plural marriage in Gaza. I wonder, for example, whether it's among other things a way of finding a respectable situation for girls who have not, for whatever reason, married more conventionally within their cohort?
What's the status of the plural widows when the patriarch dies?
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com http://cars-suck.org
Some fine cliches there. Should be encouraged. Too many damn people trying to be different. Coining phrases when a good platitude would do and save anxiety.