A New Marital Era

When the people you went to high school with start to get married, you realize you are now fully making the transition into adulthood. Thank you Leader Telegram for making me fully aware of this movement. Though many of the Generation Y Yuppie crowd clearly is not even in the mindset of marriage and instead is drawn toward urban tribes, a renewed era of matrimony during the life of Tim S has begun. Implications for me and other similar individuals:

1. The idea of 100% female availablility and "you're saying there's a chance" mantra is now over. A population once large will continue to dwindle as we move through our 20's into our 30's. More and more females known and unknown who you thought were in the realm of possibilities are no longer within reach. A limited supply obviously encourages competition and should promote challenge and conquer even for the most physically, financially, and socially challenged amongst us.

2. The freedom and time of notable friends and acquantances is dramatically diminished within the bounds of marriage. With college, most individuals feel as if they have reached the peak of freedom being able to live on their own outside the rules and guidance of their parents. True freedom though is still limited given the lack of financial resources, sometimes transportation resources (car), and academic responsibilities and constraints. Thus, freedom isn't maximized until leaving college and becoming established in yuppiehood. However, freedom is quickly taken away once you are fully committed to a spouse (financially, leisure, occupational movement, other choices) given that many of your most important life choices are now made together in binary resolutions and consulatations. Individuals may never experience total freedom if they go straight from college to marriage yet that may not be desired. The mark will be felt by independents as partners will have far less time and energy to exert once inside marital bounds. Please observe the Microsoft paint diagram below:
















3. The weddings of fellow friends has a number of implications including the increased travel costs (especially to this West Coaster), opportunity costs of other trip possiblities lost, strengthened or weakened relational ties with bride/groom based on whether one attends or fail to attend the wedding, increased gift costs, additional intersections with old friends/colleagues, incremental networking opportunities, and of course possible openings with restless women.