(Sam Heathcote -- The Beacon)
By Elissa Norton, Staff Commentary
Has anyone noticed lately that people seem to be getting married or engaged as if the world is about to experience a diamond shortage?
Everyone around seems to be tying the knot left and right and all I can think is that we've just entered adulthood! This summer alone I had five high school friends get married and my friends' engagements are happening just as quickly. I sit in my classes, and on average, three girls are either married or engaged out of a class of 25. Although it doesn't seem like that many, when considering the demographics at the school, it may as well be a million.
To top things off, people have started asking me when I'm getting engaged. I know being in a relationship for three years is a long time, but that doesn't mean I'm going to run off and get married. We are young! We have a lot of life ahead of us! What's the rush? I will admit marriages and engagements make for good Facebook stalking, but that's no reason to support marriage at such a young age.
Some couples can't even legally drink at their own weddings! That leaves potential for a boring reception. And how do you afford to pay for the ornate wedding details? Mommy and daddy's wallet, of course!
If you have loans, your spouse acquires those and you acquire your spouse's. After that, getting approved for any sort of credit card or loan is out of the question.
If you're on your parent's health insurance, once you're married, that goes away too because you're no longer considered a dependent. So hopefully one of you has a job with health insurance.
Marriage is for those who are financially independent from their parents and can not only support themselves, but also another person.
I could maybe understand the decision if one person is older and has a stable job, but when both are still undergraduate students, I don't understand it. You don't know what you want to do with the rest of your life, but you have the relationship.
Marriage puts constraints on where you can live and what sort of job you can take. If you get a job across the country, moving is out of the question unless your spouse can find something in the same city.
Your lives are compatible while in school, but what happens in the real world when you're both doing different things and have different lives?
Some couples that are very religious, I suppose I can understand getting married so quickly. How else are they going to have sex?
And others are convinced they have found their soulmate at 18. I'm happy for those people. I don't understand how they're so sure, but they seem positive that they're meant to be together.
The concepts of getting out of college, being on your own and living by yourself is not something they aspire to and I respect that. I am just leery of such young marriages because when you grow up, you become a different person and how do you know you will be happy with the person your spouse becomes?
Wouldn't it be wise to simply date and grow up, and then get married?
Elissa Norton is a senior organizational communications major and can be contacted at norton11@up.edu.
