Teach Our Children About the Power of Marriage!

I spoke with a single man in his early twenties the other day about dating and marriage. I quickly realized our generations are MANY light-years apart on these topics, with him being a Gen Zer and me a Boomer. I’m not talking about which generation is better or worse, but about existing differences.

For instance, he questioned why men or women would want to marry young nowadays, saying, “They’d barely earn enough money as a couple to pay their bills and other necessities each month. They’d be left with practically nothing to accumulate toward a down payment on a house. So, it doesn’t make sense why anyone would marry until they were financially stable or comfortable.”

I heard hopelessness in his assessment and thought afterward: Oh, young man, you’ve missed the whole point of marriage: The precious team-building, challenges, and successes. The joyful and energy-producing times of planning and implementation. Sharing the victories, big or small, while comforting each other through the setbacks and losses. Not to mention the creation, nurturing, and guiding of human life in the form of sons and daughters!

I then wondered if this was a generational gutting of the spirit of ‘the two shall become one,’ while hoping his observations were not universally held by his peers. I believe marriage and the family structure are the glue that keeps a society together.

And since I so believe in the power of love, marriage, and family, I’ll always ensure my Boomer protagonists in my novels will have a happy relationship with someone of the opposite sex that leads to a second chance at love AND a glorious wedding and honeymoon. No sad endings in my romantic fiction series, The Golden Slide, but only the best for them is yet to come!

     “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.
     Share the work, share the wealth.
     And if one falls down, the other helps,
     But if there’s no one to help, tough!

     Two in a bed warm each other.
     Alone, you shiver all night.

     By yourself you’re unprotected.
     With a friend you can face the worst.
     Can you round up a third?
    A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 MSG)