Many people reading this book are most interested in the practical applications in the previous chapters. However, to really understand why they should take the actions suggested there, singles need to understand how the current situation has developed. Not knowing how it developed is like reading one of the New Testament epistles without knowing what happened in the Old Testament, the gospels, and the book of Acts. Singles who reviewed the chapters as they were being written suggested that some chapters be moved to the back of the book as appendices because people reading the book may think it is all about history and quit before reaching the practical material.
These appendices are here to help readers understand how Western culture has changed during the last two centuries. They are not a call to return to what existed for thousands of years before our culture changed. That is probably impossible; and even if it were possible, it would likely take another two centuries to change back.
At the end of the traditional Bar Mitzvah when his son is thirteen years and one day old, the Jewish father’s benediction was, “Blessed is He who has now freed me from the responsibility of this one.” Many fathers today may think that sounds great; however, now parents in much of Western culture are responsible until their “children” are 18.
Along the same line, in the nineteenth century Massachusetts required that no state money be used “for the support of any male person, over the age of twelve, and under the age of sixty years, while of competent health to labor” (Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1823). People over twelve were expected to support themselves. Imagine what would be said about any state in the United States if it denied welfare to all males over the age of 12!
Even if laws were changed so that parents and the state were not responsible for teenagers, arranged marriages at puberty would still be impossible.
· The minimum legal age of marriage would need to be changed.
· Laws forbidding “child” labor would have to be changed.
· Laws requiring people to attend school would have to be changed.
· Laws inventing juvenile delinquency would have to be changed so that teens would be legally responsible.
· Children would have to be taught “life skills” by the time they reached puberty.
· Adults would have to expect responsible behavior from their offspring after puberty.
The list could go on and on, but it is clear that Western culture cannot return, at least not in a short time, to what life was like several centuries ago. Therefore, we need to develop ways to cope with these changes in our culture.