fret and fume
P3: No-one has fretted or fumed about
anything since the late 1950s. Do keep up.
young adults
This is 2011. Even RC-compliant young adults are, as a rule, not looking to tie the knot at age 18. Or are even thinking about it. And to a [wo]man they're very resistant to paternalistic vademecums about how they should approach this.
When my boy turns 18, I will be nearly 60. I have about as much chance of successfully influencing his decisions in this area (if I haven't already done so, which of course I hope I will have to some extent) as you do of getting a groove on to the latest Lady Gaga club mix.
I am constantly amazed why moralists of all denominations refuse to accept the basic premise that younger people may be capable of making enlightened moral decisions in their own right - we have to intercede, always, on their 'behalf'. Which is a very
'give a man a fish' approach. Our duty is to
teach them how to fish, right?