The Dutch Don’t Care About Marriage

Americans can learn a lot from their indifference.

By Katie Roiphe

I was in Amsterdam for probably three hours when I began to see that having children and not being married was not a big deal there. In fact, marriage itself is not a big deal there. I was there to talk about my book In Praise of Messy Lives, which was coming out in Dutch, but what passes in America for a messy life is in Amsterdam just, well, how things go.

The Dutch attitude, which I like, is that marriage is not for everyone; it is a personal choice, an option, a pleasant possibility, but not marrying is not a failure, a great blot on your achievements in life, a critical rite of passage you have missed. Sometimes people get around to getting married, and sometimes they don’t. Several Dutch women in their 40s, with children and rich romantic histories, tell me about marriage, “It just wasn’t something that mattered to me.”….To Read More…. 

My Take – This woman is a blithering idiot….over educated – under smart.  Marriage and family is the absolutely most profound foundation for a stable society.  Its no wonder the EU is doomed….this is another reason….and we don’t need help from the Dutch when it comes to being stupid….we have plenty of our own blithering idiots….she’s one of them.  I wonder if the boys who stormed the beaches of Normandy would have done so if they could have seen the future?