Afraid To Die (1960)

Is Marriage a Dying Tradition?

It seems that the twenty first century is an age of un-wedded couples. Cohabitation is the living arrangement of choice, meaning that fewer couples are willing to make that definitive commitment and tie the knot. In a world full of choice- we now can choose what type of water we drink in restaurants, whether to shop online or not, how many hours we work a week- we are a nation that is becoming increasingly afraid of actually making a choice. We all want are options to remain open at all times, and not to have to admit that our lives our going down one very oft trodden path. We want to mix it up,be free to change our minds at any point- this might mean doing another degree aged 50 and changing our career path entirely. This also leaks into our attitude towards relationships.

It is commonly assumed that men are the species with commitment issues, but actually women are just as afraid - if not more so when we are constantly told we can have it all – of making a choice and sticking to it. As far as marriage is concerned, more and more people are simply living together, boycotting marriage altogether, or simply wanting to test out a realtionship before walking down the aisle. In the mid 1960s only 5% of single women lived with a man. Flash forward to th 1990s and this figure shot up to about 70%, it is still on the increase. Some people live together in the hope that this would automatically lead to a wedding, but this is very often not the case. More often than not, after about two years of living together, couples decide to part ways, feeling that they have reached a stage where the only other option is marriage and they aren’t ready to settle just yet. Interestingly only 4% of cohabiting couples last ten years or more.

However, many couples are in effect married. They have children, they live together, they have joint bank accounts, theyjust haven’t gone through the official ceremony feeling that it is an archaic tradition that isn’t relevant to them, as well as wanting to avoid all the documentation and complications of divorce proceedings. This may be a very sensible way of doing things, but they’ll be missing out on the joys of a beautiful ceremony ending with a symbolic launching of a wedding lantern.

About the Author

Jo works for Root 7 hosting, who run internet based comapnies
wishlantern.co.uk

afraid to die