In a perfect world,
everybody would marry for love. But it isn’t always that way as reality makes
its way through. In some parts of the world, young girls, not even teens, are
whisked off to be married to a completely unknown man. Child bribes are striped
to their childhoods, education, health, future and their basic human rights as
they a forced to be wedded to a stranger. “Child marriage happens
because adults believe they have the right to impose marriage upon a child.
This denies children, particularly girls, their dignity and the opportunity to
make choices that are central to their lives, such as when and whom to marry or
when to have children.” (Too Young To Wed). These young brides aren't able
to achieve anything as they are already married, never experiencing the feeling
of falling in love or going to school and hanging out with friends.
Being married at such a young
age, they don’t know how to do anything besides cooking, cleaning, taking care
of their children and serving their husband. They won’t have the chance to go
to school and get an education, learning about math or history. From childhood,
their fate has already been decided, as they have no control of their lives,
being nothing more than a puppet of the parents who arranged the marriages. “A child bride often enters a marriage with
feelings of fear and powerlessness.” (Too Young to Wed). Their lack of control
over anything can create great emotional and philological damage.
Being married
to a complete stranger, having no say will leave the young brides to be
emotionless, living as if they were stuck inside a dead corpse where they are
able to feel nothing. Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states that “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due
to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a
family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and
at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending spouses.” Young brides shouldn't be
forced into marriages in which everyone should be able to pick the one
they love, the one they are going to marry.
Examples include the young girls of Afghanistan.17-year-old
Humaira Taiba who is soon the be in an arranged marriage with a 45-year-old
man, causing her to want to commit suicide. “I don’t want to marry the man
who is 45 years old, the same age as my father,” says Humaira. From a
young age, women are married off to honor promises made by their fathers and/or
grandfathers. Women are married and traded off to be owned by males, treating
them as if they were property. Young brides shouldn't be forced
into marriages because everyone should be able to pick their spouse as we
the people have the right to choose who we will marry.
As the shuttle bus
pulls up on the curve of ‘the happiest place on earth’, I no longer could hold
in my excitement as I step out to have my eyes lay upon Disneyland. As my
family and I walk down the sidewalk, I reminisce back to when I was just a
little girl just like it was my first time visiting the theme park. My parents
said that I was just like a kid in a candy store. 
