Editorial: Marriage is not for all

From The Lookout Staff

As children, we were all told to get through school, find a member of the opposite sex, get through college, find a career, marry someone and have a few kids.

According to pewresearch.org, a recent study shows roughly four in 10 adults (ages 25 to 54) are unpartnered; a 29-percent increase from a study conducted in 1990.

The Lookout staff has noticed that less and less of our peers are aspiring to have the lives our parents had. We agree it is a nice concept, but irrelevant to most because the times have indeed changed.

First, it’s too expensive. College, rent, a wedding and the cost of raising a child is too much for most of us to even imagine.  

We can barely pay the rent. How can we afford a wedding? Or a house?

Secondly, the different ramifications of entangling one’s life with another is too permanent for most people, who now have the option to live comfortably on their own, or in a deep roommate-ship.

The commitment issues have never been more real.

Lastly, it just seems that with more options in front of them, people choose to act with their freedom. Almost everyone goes home to something different than what was expected, and that is considered OK.

Well, with our generation at least.

Life looks different now, but The Lookout sees and acknowledges the beauty in the blend. We have decided to drop the shame from the equation, because we finally know the truth.

The American dream has never really existed, it was a siren call to further consumerism. And the system doesn’t actually allow for one to attain the things young people are still trained to chase.

We map our own futures now and are blazing trails left and right because it seems we have all figured out the best road really is the one less traveled.

The Lookout staff wrote this editorial because it’s a conversation worth sharing. We wanted to take a moment to remind students that their lives are supposed to look like whatever they want them to look like.