Romeo and Juliet
Act II, Scene II

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

What a romantic, huh? Romeo really does know just how to woo a woman! But unfortunately, men today are no Romeo and women are no Juliet. Not to say that romance is dead or that poets don't exist or write as beautifully but it is to say that love like Romeo and Juliet's is slim to none in modern society and the reasoning behind it is pretty self-explanatory - We have different societal standards and morals than those in the 1500s (and yes, Romeo and Juliet was published in the late 1500s for those of you who haven't heard)

Now, contrary to popular belief, Romeo and Juliet is NOT a romantic duo you should model your love life after! While their love (fictional, might I remind you) was great for one another, their dating habits were a little on the unusual side (even for the customs of the 1500s). All suicide and murder aside, of course.

While this classic Shakespearean piece is typically known for it's exquisite depiction of romance it seems as though a lot of young lovers have marked Romeo and Juliet as romantic idols without proper knowledge of the story or the history behind the prose. For starters, the play is a drama meaning shit hits the fan real fast and things are not perfect, to say in the least. So why do we romanticize a story where nothing goes right and is deliberately stated in the theme of the play?

It's not to say we all have not heard the tale of two star crossed lovers and wished one day we would be able to find our own Romeo or Juliet but when did we also forget as a society that Romeo and Juliet was published over 400 years ago and the lead characters kill themselves because they are too stupid to communicate properly?!

Now,that's not to say that it isn't a wonderful piece of literature because it definitely is but it is to say that times have changed in the 400-some-odd-years between 1597 and modern day and a Romeo and Juliet style love would not project well into the 21st Century.

Believe it or not, the moral traditions of 1597 and 2016 do not exactly match up. The age and ability to marry, the age for acceptable sexual deeds and intercourse, and so much more differ between centuries with very little overlap and rightfully so! We have grown a lot as human beings and have learned from our mistakes.

We have learned to eat healthy and exercise regularly to avoid disease. We have learned to actually brush our teeth and wash our bodies regularly. We learned not to hump our cousins because that causes deformities in our offspring. (All of which are real things the 16th Century did not do).

To put it simply, things have gotten better.

But let's get down to the root of it all - Romeo and Juliet's love life.

For one, they're 13. Romeo and Juliet are 13 years old and are trying to make the biggest decision of their lives - Whether or not to run away and get married without their parents permission - which, even for this time, was scandalous on it's own. While the age may be correct for this time, no one got married without their families consent and often times the weddings were arranged to the point where the kids getting married may not even know, let alone like, each other. Nowadays, we have the right to get married without the consent of our parents but at the age of adulthood (18 for US citizens) which prevents divorce at the age of 17 (legal documents aren't fun, kids and lawyers aren't cheap).

As for the age thing, that doesn't mean your 13-year-old significant other will last forever either.

Hell, the life expectancy of someone living in the 16th Century was only somewhere between 25-50 if you were lucky and managed to avoid things like the plague and measles. They physically HAD to marry young or their family name wouldn't pass down and like I said, it wasn't romantic at all. It was the pure animistic desire to reproduce and continue the bloodline in hopes that one day their great-great-great grand kids will invent the IPhone.

Even if their life expectancy was longer we have to remember what happens to both Romeo and Juliet... THEY DIE. THEY LITERALLY DIE.

But all death aside, Romeo and Juliet also promote unsafe premarital sex.

I know, I know, premarital sex has become the norm in modern society and there is nothing wrong with that but with the dangerous mix of young love and unprotected sex through the rose tinted lenses of the theater it does seem to be potentially problematic for teens learning this material without proper un-biased sex education courses.

TEACH YOUR KIDS HOW TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM STDs AND PREGNANCY RATHER THAN SHAME THEM FOR FEELING THE DESIRE TO ACT UPON A NATURAL PART OF THE HUMAN REPRODUCTION PROCESS!

And kids... BE RESPONSIBLE!

I could go on forever (and trust me when I say, there would be plenty of other points to hit on why your love life is not like Romeo and Juliet's) but I'll just spare you the drama and the read and sum up the point of this article for you.

You can love but you don't have to compare it to someone else's all the time.

You can feel love at 13 but don't put the rest of your life on hold for it.

You can have sex before marriage but use protection.

Don't rush yourself to become an adult just because you think you should or because someone in a story did. Remember, we live longer then anyone ever has and that means we have 100 years to live so don't waste them trying to be a couple of dumb fictional preteens from the 1500s who end up dead anyhow.

Be your own Romeo or Juliet but don't spend your whole life searching for the other because you have better things to do until they do find you and they will find you.

I promise.