There is no mystery to me that people do not wish to marry. The pressures of making ends meet are difficult enough for a single person but add a spouse and a child or two and ties are strained beyond repair.

Our economic system does not help human relations. Advertising plays on guilt so we buy what we really do not need. Social status demands that our purchases equal that of our neighbors. Construction industries set the norm years ago to insist that it was necessary to have a separate bedroom for each child. Now we must have additional bedrooms for guests, family rooms, exercise rooms, patios, 5 stall garages and on and on and on.

Marriage, like child bearing, never was for every one but under patriarchy it became a forced condition. Penalties for the singles came in the form of taxes. Wage earners received tax deductions just for being married.

But more devastating was the social attitude that single people were somehow not as "good" as married people. Women were especially looked down upon. And they could not be married if they wanted to have a job.

Those things have changed. If we choose we can stay single. Many women and men in my acquaintance who lost spouses preferred to be married and searched for another mate. Sometimes that worked out fine. Often there were no others to be found. Or perhaps we were too fussy.

And as long as we have money we can buy whatever we want. I'm beyond the child bearing age and only have to answer to myself. Single living suites me fine.