Being a Menace to Society:
I
just turned 25 years old today and got to thinking about my current status of
being “single”. So, what is it like to be 25 years old and not married? Well
depends on whether you are part of the world or a member of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. If you are part of the world, you are still young
and have PLENTY of time to get married. No rush, No worries!
However, I,
being a member of the LDS faith can now be classified as a “menace to society”!
Brigham Young once said… “Any young man who is unmarried at the age
of twenty five is a menace to society”.
But
wait… did he REALLY say that? I searched the web and came back empty handed! Sure
the quote exists, but it uses any age from 21-30 in place of “25”, however it
does seem as if “25” is the most popular age used in the quotes… the problem? There
is never a source to any of the quotes!
I did
find one interesting piece of the “puzzle”… On May 31, 1963, speaking at the
Commencement Exercises as President of Brigham Young University, Ernest
Wilkinson stated:
"Of the men graduating tonight, 62 per cent are married; 38 per cent unmarried. Of the 472 women graduating, 23 per cent are married; 77 per cent single. As to the single men, I need merely to repeat the admonition attributed to Brigham Young, “Every man not married and over twenty-five is a menace to the community.” I asked Dr. Lyman Tyler yesterday if he would document this for me, but he said he had been trying to document it for years; he had given up, so you will have to accept it either on faith, or as apocryphal."
"Of the men graduating tonight, 62 per cent are married; 38 per cent unmarried. Of the 472 women graduating, 23 per cent are married; 77 per cent single. As to the single men, I need merely to repeat the admonition attributed to Brigham Young, “Every man not married and over twenty-five is a menace to the community.” I asked Dr. Lyman Tyler yesterday if he would document this for me, but he said he had been trying to document it for years; he had given up, so you will have to accept it either on faith, or as apocryphal."
So there
you have it! It might have never been said by Brigham Young, but is it
encouraged in the LDS church to be married by that age? Not exactly, but the
principle is the same…. MARRIAGE is important and is not something that should
be put off forever!
Upon
careful research I found a little more into the statement, and something that can actually be verified as
being true! George Q. Cannon, a church apostle, said in 1878: “I am
firmly of the opinion that a large number of unmarried men, over the age of 24
years, is a dangerous element in any community.…”
So
wait, I have already been a menace for a year?!?! So confusing! But now I can
really reflect on how it is to be 25, Single and LDS. Let me tell you that the
feeling is not great. The church pushes marriage so much, because without
marriage so many blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be forfeited. While
being single in the LDS church is not easy, and makes the entire experience an
extreme test of faith… I must remember that…
“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to
be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that
which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break
down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time
to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to
gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a
time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of
war, and a time of peace… He hath made every thing beautiful in
his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man
can find out the workthat God maketh from the beginning to the end… I know
that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put
to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before
him… for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-17)
For now I just have to stay positive and know that God has a
purpose for everything, and sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to
go. But in the end God will reward those who were faithful in this life or the
next.
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