Marriage Concepts

The other day, my wife, L' had an interesting conversation with a woman at the beach boardwalk. L sat down to relax, when a local woman in matching blue jellaba and scarf sat next to her. They began to chat about marriage.
The woman, 30 years old and single, was entertaining the thought of marrying an older man who proposed to her.
"How old is he?" asked L.
"Close to 60," she answered calmly.
"I'm not sure I would do that. That's a big age difference. 30 years?! What kind of marriage would that be?"
"Oh, the prophet Muhammed was that age and he married much younger women. And those marriages were good."
"Really? I think that marriage was more a 'father-daughter' relationship than a husband-wife relationship. A 60 year old man with a 20 year old girl? Please!"
"But, the prophet was kind."
"Perhaps, but the relationship was definitely a 'father-daughter' relationship. Do you want that kind of marriage? Do you want children? Is a 60 year old man energic enogh to chase little kids around? And how long will he live before he dies? Then what do you do?"
"Hmmm. I didn't think of that. All I thought of is that he is well established financially so that I would be secure. I'll have to think about this more."

All goes to show you - our concept of marriage is different than of that woman/girl*. We think of having a marriage between equals. She doesn't. She is thinking of financial security. Period.

* [in local culture, any single female is called a girl.]