Living Single

"Fortune" reported a study of singles living alone. It discussed their spending potential and made a pitch for businesses to take notice. On the other hand, I was interested in other dimensions. Like how many adults today are married (51%). That means a lot more singles. Do women outlive men? Are most married men older than their wives? Who lives alone most: men or women. And what about the elderly?

I was not concerned, nor was the article, why so many singles today live alone (about 28%) compared to fifty years ago (about 13%). There are many reasons, reasonable and otherwise. I also noticed on the graph that more single men nowadays between 20 and 50 years of age live alone than women. From age 50 to 80, women live alone more than men, and the older they are, the wider the gap. At 80, nearly three times as many women live alone as men.

Perhaps nothing here surprises anyone. My concern is that perhaps our culture may have a tendency to overlook the needs of singles: socially, spiritually and otherwise. True, we have all kinds of retirement facilities meeting many interests and needs of seniors and clubs and what else (Facebook?) for the younger generation. But what about our neighborliness?

Is it true that couples often quietly fade away when one of their own loses a spouse? How often do we able-bodied neighbors cut the grass, bring in the mail and offer the homeless a ride to the grocery store. Or have them join us at a restaurant? But then, I remembered an inner-city church deluged with homeless souls who regularly rejected our vouchers to a nearby restaurant and turned down our personal invitations for lunch. Can you guess why?

Some singles are self-sufficient, delighting in their solitude while others are lonely and bored. I'm glad I read the article. In some ways it was an eye-opener; in other ways it triggered this response. We dare not overlook singles, whether young or not so young, among us.