I'm engaged - but when's the wedding?

Call me old fashioned but, in my day, ENGAGEMENT meant commitment, part of a promise, an agreement entered into willingly and after much thought and research.  It meant saving up money to make sure that the venture was on a sound financial footing and even taking on affordable debt to make independence a reality.
ENGAGEMENT looked forward to a shared future, a joint journey of discovery and a sparkling occasion at which the "engaged" set forth in the world by themselves.  ENGAGED people enjoyed respect from their peers and from society and did their utmost, whatever perils they may encounter on the way, to reach their life goals together.

Picture by Boykung at Freedigitalphotos.net

Now consider today.  How many young people:

• are actually willing to become ENGAGED?
• have the luxury of avoiding debt?
• actually research their partner, their likes and dislikes, their goals and their history?
• are willing to share their journey, rather than reserve the best seat for themselves?
• are willing to jump ship at the first sign of problems?
• work in the comfort of knowing that it can all be appealed and legally ended by an increasingly secular society.

It's not, of course, the young people's fault entirely and...

It's not the same with degrees.