...like a horse and carriage

Why get married, is a question more and more young people are asking these days - and the statistics seem to suggest that more and more of them are not finding any good reason to. What difference does a piece a paper make, is the way they see it. Surely it is the quality of the relationship that matters, not whether or not you have gone through some ritual? Well, yes, but my question to them would be - why not get married? It always seems to me that by taking a conscious decision not to get married, you are in fact tacitly accepting that the relationship may not last - otherwise why not "go public" and put your money where your mouth is, as it were. And when the relationship comes under pressure - as, depend on it, sooner or later it will - it may well be that marriage vows will be the difference between fighting to make a go of it, or just walking away.