Opinion Express View: When it comes to single people, put away your pity

The day after Valentine’s Day, littered with chocolate wrappers and tinsel, may be the perfect occasion to reflect on all the ways in which this world — “built for two”, as Lana Del Rey sang in a modern love classic — takes a toll on single people. It’s not as if the other 364 days of the year are any easier on the uncoupled. From having to foot the cost of living all by their lonesome selves to fielding pitiful looks when arriving solo at “plus-one” events, singles have it tough. Which is why it is heartening that a municipality in Belgium has adopted a charter to “no longer think from the perspective of the traditional family as the norm, but to strive for measures that are neutral to living arrangements.”

This move by the municipal council of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre is being hailed as the first of its kind in Belgium — perhaps, even in Europe. It is a response to a demographic trend that has been evident for several years now in much of the developed world: The rising number of single people, including those who have made the deliberate choice to not mingle. Study after study of this group has shown that many of these individuals describe their lives as being “authentic” and “happy”, yet such stories of fulfilment are invisibilised in a culture that sees coupledom as natural and inevitable. The cost of the accompanying prejudice is often high — such as when landlords refuse to rent houses to individuals, citing a preference for “families”, or when single people are barred, by law, from making certain kinds of reproductive choices.

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There is, then, something to learn from the large-heartedness of a small European municipality: When it comes to single people, put away your pitchforks and your pity. After all, at some point in life, due to death, divorce or other circumstances, everyone is alone.