Single doesn't mean financial strings attached

Envy. Pity follows: "You may be free now, but you will regret it 20 years down the line."

I am tired of the way our society treats single, with envy, pity and even derision.

There are people who are convinced single people are destined to a life of sadness and regret. Regret about what? About not having anyone to take care of us when we get old and sick? Of dying alone?

There are people who say that family members of single people will eventually have to pick up the slack and help them when they get old. That it would be such a bother and inconvenience.

I don't know if I would resign myself to such a fate, to a future where I need constant help from other people just to function. But right now, some of my single friends and I are being treated like personal wallets and ATM machines for our relatives.

"She's so rich. She has worked for decades without a husband so she must have a lot of money. If you want to buy a house or a car, just borrow some from her." I've heard these lines so many times these days, even from my own family.

True, we might be more financially well-off and less tied down by responsibilities than those with a family to feed. But the reason we work so hard is because we know where we will eventually end up: a day when we become too weak to take care of ourselves. That's where a nursing home comes in, but that costs money, so it's only natural that we save up.

Yet some people have the nerve to ask us, when we refuse to give them money, what we would spend our money on. They're the same people who are afraid of the possible burden of taking care of us in the future.

It's 2022 already. People should just stop giving each other labels and biases and expectations. Please just accept and respect each other's differences and ways of life. That way, you will be making a real difference – for the better.