Marriage?? Why Do It??

Today in my social problems class we were discussing that the idea of family is in crisis. That the traditional family is no more and that is a problem, this idea lead to information about the types of families there are today, family roles and the idea of marriage. My teacher proposed the question “who in here thinks they never want to get married??” A few people in the class raised there hand and I just looked around wondering why. The class went on without asking them why but I could not get the idea out of my head. This made me think about my own thought on marriage. I realized that I myself do no believe in the idea of marriage. As I keep thinking about it several things come to mind. Why is divorce so common these days? What makes me so cynical of something that is suppose to be great? Why don’t I believe(life experiences)? Who’s marriages are working out? Why do people not want to get married like those in my class? Why is getting married so important? When are people getting married? How long are people together before marrying these days? How many are cohabitating un-married with or with-out children? Why are women more ok with being alone? Are we more selfish these days? Has career become more important than marriage? How many couples live essentially “married” but are not legally married for life? What is the pressure? Why is marriage the “normal” thing to do, unlike other societies?