Forced to elope?

I guess it depends how well you like these folks. Say "Yes," and look puzzled, and say, "Did you really just imply that this is some sort of competition?" I would second the idea of better friends, or at least ones that live in the twenty-first century.

It's incredibly rude to imply a young woman is destined to go through life alone because she isn't married by X age. It's a little unkind to try to make you feel bad about it. It's kind of a passive/aggressive dig at you.

I had something like this happen to me...forty years ago. I thought things had changed since then.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.