I ran into a nice gal at a local nursery I do business with. She has a 5 year old child with her “fiancée” of 7 years with whom she lives. She has given up on the idea of marriage. In North Dakota she would already be married under common law, yet she's still not sure it is for her. Which is amazing to me.

I can't understand why people don'’t get married anymore. Marriage is hard work, but very rewarding.

In a book by Jillian Strauss called the Unhooked Generation there is a list of seven reasons why young Americans between their mid 20's and early 40's remain, now more than ever, unmarried. It was written about in a Chicago Sun Times article.

Here are the seven reasons

1. They are obsessed with themselves. A cult of One. They don’t care about anyone except themselves to the exclusion of all others. Selfishness.

2. Choices. Everything Gen Xers have is a multiple choice. Toothpaste. Cell phone plans. So, what If they get married and make the wrong choice. OOPS.

3. Divorce Phobia. They have seen their parents and others in unhappy marriages or divorced ant they are afraid they might end up there as well.

4. Feminism. Women don’t “need” men. Except later they think later they might. Feminism has made men afraid to try to romance women.

5. Why Suffer. Marriage is hard work and can be painful so why go through it? Single is boring but not unknown nor does it promise suffering.

6. Celebrity examples. The cult of celebrity has caused many to see the Jennifer Anniston messes as examples of what could happen to them and causing them to back off.

7. Marriage Delay perpetuates itself. If a person gets past 30 without being married they may not ever. The stasis that happens causes people to not look any more.

I am disappointed with the outcome of this. I wish it weren’t true. This will not forebode good things for our society. We are about to go through a demographic crisis because of this.

So, all you 30 something Generation X'ers.get off your butt and start looking for someone. Marriage is a wonderful thing. Get over your old bad self.

The clock is ticking.