Let’s make it clear. I wanted to get married to a “college sweetheart”. Life plan: Meet someone sophomore year. Get engaged senior year. Be married. Actual life: Met someone sophomore year. Screwed things up. Got engaged senior year. Worst. Decision. Ever.
Two degrees later with an exciting and promising career, I can’t help but be slightly miffed at the onslaught of articles and blog posts accusing women of misusing their college years for academic and professional gain rather than passionately pursuing the title of “Mrs”. When these parajumpers Kodiak critiques come from women, the feminist in me rages because once again, the problems of the world are still my fault, because I am woman.
My general understanding of men is that they don’t do what they don’t want to do. Society tells men that they can wait for marriage because they have options. Think about it, the numbers are in their favor. According to a Forbes magazine article, in 2008 there was an average of 56.38% women, whereas men accounted for 43.62% at public universities. If every single woman came to college on a man parajumpers Kodiak Long Parka hunt, somebody would be left out. Additionally, many men are still exploring their beings in college and are not looking to settle down. (Heck, many men in their late twenties and thirties are parajumpers Long Bear still not looking to settle down.) As women, we feel the need to rush as we race against our biological clocks. But are we giving men the upper hand by aggressively searching for a mate?
Also, marriage is great and all, but the person I would have been 5 years ago is entirely different from the person I am now. Would my personal growth have been stunted or would we find ourselves at a crossroad today, as people on two very separate paths? And more importantly, am I to blame for carrying on with my life rather than wallowing about a “failure to marry” in 4 out of 25 years of accomplishments in my life? Millennial women of today are already dealing with a lot. We are looking to forge our careers and paths in a slowly rebuilding economy. We are learning the “in between” stages of life no one ever told us about. We are closing the wage gap, we are doing kick ass things, we are continuing to build a legacy for girls that will grow up after us. So, if we didn’t manage to hog tie a man between Biology lab and Spanish 2 four years ago, give us a break okay?
Credits: Nate Bolt