Ethan's Top Five Reasons
Why Today's Young Adults Are Freer than any Generation in American History
(Part One):
1. We have only ourselves
to take care of. No generation has clung to its freedom from spouse
and children with such tenacity.
2. Our parents no longer
think it's their job to be stern advice givers. While they often encourage
us in our education and careers, they do not, as a general rule, threaten
disinheritance if we shack up, buy a motorcycle, or drop out of med
school to follow the call to become a Zen monk or a handbag designer.
3. Other traditional
advice givers tend to stay out of our faces, too: pastors, teachers,
bosses, mentors. In all likelihood they understand that, as a group,
they have no high horse to ride in on. Divorces, drug use, and suburban
"key" parties loom large in their memories.
4. We feel freer of
the consequences of our actions and enjoy plenty of forgiveness for
our mistakes. We can date the wrong person for years, start on one career,
quit, go back to school and try another. Wisely or not, we share the
sense that it can all be undone. *
5. We have unprecedented
freedom in how we pursue our romantic relationships. There is a multiplicity
of socially acceptable options, from serial dating to serial monogamy
to long-term relationships to marriage. Most of us, in fact, switch
among these different paths. A serial dater might become a serial monogamist,
with a long period of abstinence (chosen or not) in between.
* Of course we're not free from all consequences--AIDS,
unplanned pregnancy, and getting hit by a bus among them. But for those
who are routinely cautious every time they cross the street or a bedroom
threshold, these calamaties are easy to avoid.
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More on the above topic can be found
in chapter 1: "Confessions of a 'Never-Married.'" |
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The complete list of Ethan's Top Five!
Ethan's Top Five Things
to Tell Your Parents When You Are Still Single at Age 30 (or 35, or
40)
Ethan's Top Five Reasons
To Be Happy about the Prospect of Being an Older Parent
Ethan's Top Five Reasons Why
Cupid Still Has a Pulse on College Campuses
Ethan's Top Five
Reasons Why a Marriage Delayed Is a Marriage Improved
Ethan's Top Five Reasons
Why Being in an Urban Tribe Is Bad for Your Love Life
Ethan's Top Five Frustrations
Women Express about Men They've Begun to Date
Ethan's Top Five Things Urban
Tribes Should Avoid
Ethan's Top Five
Guidelines to Dating within Your Urban Tribe
Ethan's Top Five Reasons Why
Today's Young Adults Are Freer than any Generation in American History
(Part One)
Ethan's Top Five Reasons Why
Today's Young Adults Are Freer than any Generation in American History
(Part Two)
Ethan's Top Five Stupidest
Lines from The Rules
Ethan's Top Five Stupidest Things He Had To Read While Researching His Book
Ethan's Top Five
Ways To Introduce A New Romantic Partner To Your Tribe
Ethan's Top Five Ways
to Build and Maintain an Urban Tribe
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