Comes now
a very interesting piece of news concerning a Hong Kong property magnate and
his lesbian daughter.
According to
the Montreal
Gazette, who credited the Vancouver
Sun as its source, succesful businessman Cecil Chao Sze-tsung is offering
the sum of $65 million to the man who can win the heart of his daughter, Gigi
Chao.
I have no
idea whether the amount is in Hong Kong dollars, Canadian dollars, or even
American dollars. 65 million is still 65 million, and is nothing to sneeze at.
Details of
Chao’s plan, as well as his daughter’s reactions, are provided in the news
sources I mentioned, so I won’t repeat them here.
What I will
do, however, is wonder about what it is that motivates fathers to want to marry
off their daughters, when the ladies themselves seem to be in a perfectly
comfortable, if unconvential, relationship.
I mean, Sean Eav has been Gigi’s partner for
seven years. Seven long years. In this day and age, if you make it past your
second year in a committed relationship, you’ve already struck gold.
So, what’s the
big deal about being in a same-sex relationship?
Well, of
course, for all its modernity, much of Hong Kong still adheres to
traditionally-ingrained values about family and morality. If that’s the case, it’s
a hard rock to dislodge. After all, everyone is entitled to choose which
beliefs and values to treasure and hold on to, in these desperate times.
But then
again, this whole thing may simply be based on a patriarch’s (said to be one of
the richest men in Hong Kong) concern that progeny are not in the offing,
should Gigi decide to continue forsaking men.
Ah, but if
such is the case, surely it’s possible for people clearly as affluent as the
Chaos to avail of artificial insemination, in order to produce children that
could continue the bloodline and (cough, cough) preserve the integrity of
family fortunes by seeing to it that only those with familial DNA can get hold
of the bounty?
Or am I being
just my sceptical ass self again?
See, I don’t
really understand why marriage has to be involved. After all, isn’t marriage
supposed to be sacrosanct, a union based
on the understanding that it is supposed to be willfully and willingly entered
into, and blessed by a representative of the deity that an invidual worships,
according to his or her faith?
There are
those who see marriage as a social contract that exists to bind a family, the
basic unit of society. I have problems with that.
If it’s just
a social contract, then it’s going to have a start… and a finish. Whoever heard
of a contract without a termination date? Even if you keep renewing it
immediately after termination, the fact remains that at a certain point in
time, the vows made will expire.
Sure, I know
that the promise is to stay “together, forever, and never to part” as wonderful
Rick Astley sang, long before the days
of Rickrolling. But that’s just it, you
know.
Marriage is
no ordinary contract. It’s a dang lifetime commitment that is meant to be
honored, otherwise, the parties who entered into simply made fools of
themselves.
In other words,
the fool that I am, I believe that marriage should only be entered into when
both parties are in love and choose to stay in love (maybe not romantically all
the way, but in love, just the same. There are many kinds of love, you know) until kingdom come.
Hmm… the Chao patriarch did say that he didn’t mind
if the prospective groom was rich or poor, as long as he is kind.
OMG. I don’t
want to talk about naïveness and/or too much faith in human nature, but sir,
don’t you see that the $65 million you are offering is just like a bounty to
those who are money-grubbing weasels out to strike the motherlode and deplete
it with abandon?
I have seen
your daughter’s pictures. She is
pretty, and yes, she does look kind and gentle and simple. All qualities that
are much to be desired in a wife-to-be.
That being
the case, I don’t think she deserves being treated like a precious commodity that
is now up for grabs to the best suitor, or the one who can put up the most convincing
show of being the perfect spouse someday.
You hope a
man will come along, a very special man who will make your daughter fall in
love with him and renounce her preference for the same sex?
I hope to
win the lottery too.
Yes, there
is a possibility that it could happen. But then again, while it doesn’t, the
idea seems pretty remote.
Still, there’s
no price tag placed on hope, right?
Welcome to an opinion piece by David Garcia.
Got something to say? Feel free to comment. :)
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Thanks to Josh Peterson for this real cool template design.
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