Or at least, the fault of my generation. I am of the generation of baby boomers. We are the generation that decided that somehow, our parents got it all wrong about marriage. We decided that marriage, instead of being about a relationship dedicated to the successful raising of children to adulthood, was about self fulfillment or finding one's "soulmate" (whatever the heck that is). We decided that each of us somehow had the right to ignore the rest of humanity in the dogged pursuit of maximizing the self. That is why you saw so many women who refused to marry or have children now say ("I did it so I can have it all") they must get fertility treatments to do at 40 to 50 what would have happened without that effort at 20. This is also why divorce is so common-well, if the first guy or gal isn't your soulmate, then just trade 'em up until you get the right model, like a car. The unbelievable selfcenteredness of my generation stuns me. And the main casualties have been our children-we have been so unwilling to do the hard work that is marriage because it didn't suit us, without bothering to consider that we are permanently damaging a whole generation of people.
Okay, climbing off the soapbox now.
