To the editor:

I am totally amazed that we are even considering an amendment to prevent specific marriages.

My marriage was the happiest time of my life. How can I vote to deny that to others?

Remember how happy you were to be able to marry the one who loved? I would ask everyone to think, then vote.

Think: What will a law like this do? It won’t keep people from falling in love, living together, sharing their lives and making lifetime commitments. It won’t preserve the “sanctity of marriage”; there are people cheating on their spouses every day, destroying that.

It will prevent couples in love from having the legal rights that accompany marriage. When my husband was in the hospital ICU, if I hadn’t been a relative, I could have been prevented from seeing him.

Now that he has passed away, as his spouse I receive a very small annuity that includes Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Without that, I’d have to give up retirement and return to work for health insurance. To those of you who are married now, your lives will still be the same whether the amendment passes or fails. It will only hurt others if it passes.

Vote: Remember that an intelligent voter listens to all sides, then votes for what he or she sees as best. In our free, democratic country, the ballot is private. It’s a right for which many have fought.

No one should be told how to vote or be pressured into a decision by their friends, their club, their church or their spouse.

Your vote is your decision. Please use it fairly and wisely.

Marilyn Chryst

Concord