The Greased Pig

At a wedding I attended on Long Island, one minister told a story that I think is one of the best metaphors I've heard about marriage.

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I could talk to you all about how these two people come from different cultures, and how the interaction between those cultures will affect their union. But I don't know anything about those cultures. So instead I'll talk about something I do know, from my own culture.

In the village where I'm from there's a game we play sometimes called Catch The Pig. You take a pig and grease him up really good from head to toe, then set him loose in a giant mud puddle. Then you go in there and try to catch him. The pig is all greased up so he slips out of your hands every time you try to grab him, so inevitably you find yourself covered completely with mud and grease.

The thing is, all your friends will be watching you do this, friends that would never go in there and do it themselves, but they're all happy to holler out advice to you. "Don't grab that leg, grab the other leg!" "Go left, go left!" "You're doing it wrong!" Your friends have never played the game so they don't know how hard it is, but they'll give you an earful on how it should be done.

So marriage is just like Catch the Pig. Don't listen to your single friends, they've never done it so they don't understand the work that needs to go into it. Talk to those who are married and learn from them. You'll learn that in marriage, you have to roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and go catch that pig.

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