I have had a lot of time alone recently, as my companion is absent for a while. It’s Labor Day weekend. But I am blessed to be surrounded by people who are married and have families of their own, which means I am by myself; the only person whose job it is to be with me is temporarily elsewhere.

This is what I’m thinking about today:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” … And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Women are made to be companions. Men need companions whether they know it or not. God knows it. This is saying that when you find a fitting partner, you get married. And leave your father and mother and siblings. And lead one life together with your spouse. To the extent that men these days can get away with not committing, they are harming women by denying them what they most need: the chance to be what they were made to be. Companions. Feminism, ironically, has just enabled men to harm us in this new way. They still hold the power. They can dawdle, and refuse to grow up, and act like they don’t owe anybody anything, and pretend they have years before they need to settle down. And while they refuse to marry, they keep women from being women.

We weren’t made to be alone. And meeting friends for coffee once a week doesn’t cut it. We were made to live one life together with one other person, one God made to suit us primarily as a committed friend. COMPANIONSHIP IS THE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE, as far as the Bible is concerned. A partnership! That is very important. Children, notice, are NOT the reason for marriage. They are one thing marriage can give you, among many things. But the reason God gives is that is it NOT GOOD FOR THE MAN TO BE ALONE.

It is apparent that God’s observation is true. Joseph Smith [Correction: Brigham Young] is credited with saying every unmarried man over the age of 26 is a menace to society, and it is true. Thankfully, in my circle of friends, there is only one single guy left. But he is an incredibly destabilizing force in our lives! My sister, the other day, was talking about how hard it is for her circle of friends to deal with single people (she and her circle are also mostly married). She says they change they dynamic of parties. They are increasingly hard to interact with. And the older they get, the more their immaturity shows. Marriage is the only way I know of to civilize men and get them to be positive forces in the lives of those around them. It forces them to live cooperatively. It forces them to live for something other than themselves and their own hobbies.

It is a little different for girls. I think we are less destabilizing than men. But we actually notice the lack. Companionless on a holiday, a lot of people would be quick to say, “I’m sure there must be someplace you could go be a third wheel!” And that’s probably true. But it isn’t what we’re made for, which means it is likely to hurt even more than being alone for the holiday. All for the selfishness of childish men who won’t leave their mother and father and cling to the wife God has given them.