My latest article at MercatorNet. (Main news page--woohoo!)
It was also picked up by LifeSiteNews, and Lawks, for its being a prolife, pro-faith, pro-family site, I am somewhat surprised by the sheer volume (maybe 90% last time I checked--I've stopped now) of angry and negative feedback. Not that I'm losing sleep: over the years I've been called a b*tch and a kitten-murderer by readers, so the skin has become somewhat thickened.
Who am I to tell people what to do?! Well, actually I don't. Nowhere in the article do I insist that everyone must reproduce. (Aside: unless you're Catholic, married, and have no grave reasons not to. Not my rule; take it up with God and the Vatican). But religious or not, if we want civilization to continue, someone has to have babies, and that is the material point. It therefore behooves us not to be too smug about taking the opposing viewpoint, as if it really didn't matter.
It's all very ironic: the Childless-by-Choicers are sitting there all enraged, saying stuff like: "You don't have to have kids in order to be cared for in old age--just save wisely and plan for your retirement!" Sure, then ask your bank account or your credit card to bring you a cup of tea...or perform your colonoscopy.
SOMEONE'S kids will have to care for you, or be your doctor, or clean your room, or serve your meals, even in that fancy retirement complex you can afford. But we need not go as far as discussing retirement or old age. In fact there is no single aspect of your lifestyle, past, present or future, that does not entirely depend on someone else's (ultimately generous, considering the sacrifice involved) decision to bring forth children into the world.
Someone else's baby grew up to produce your food, build your house, design your car, and even to manufacture your birth control pills or perform your vasectomy.
Soylent Green isn't the only thing that's PEEEEOPLE: everything you depend on in society is too.
So it boils down to: "I don't have to have kids but lots of other people DO!"
I honestly don't care if Person A, B or C chooses not to have children: that's between them and God. But at the very least they should check their indignation at the door and acknowledge the cognitive dissonance.
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Hey, I thought it was great...and I don't have kids....yet...
ReplyDeleteSomething happens when a person embraces the pro choice position: logic flies right out of the window at warp speed, and not long after good manners walk out the door.
ReplyDeleteHaving children just to take care of you in old age is selfish. It is not guaranteed. Do you think retirment an nursing homes are built for childless people? Visit any nursing home and I ensure you will find those whose children haven't seen them in ages; provided they don't have Alzheimer's. I had a childless, un married great-aunt and step-grandmother who never made plans for their old age. I admired them but they never thought about who would take care of them in their old age. The fact is you cannot always rely on family whether you are parent or not. Life is uncertain. Parents can outlive their kids or be disabled themselves. Then you forget some people can not choose to have children. I planned for nursing home or in home care children or no children. I see no sense in the vitriol toward childless by choice or otherwise when everyone is responsible for their own care in old age. The key is to practice good health habits so you will not need care.
ReplyDeleteDoes "care" include food, manufactured goods, and any or all services now supplied by other humans (like plumbers, grocery store clerks, taxi drivers, doctors, etc)? No matter where or how we live, we need other people to survive, and people have to come from somewhere. That was my basic point.
ReplyDeleteBut thats not why YOU had children - you did not have children for other people, you had them for you and because your religion told you to. The fact is, millions of people are having children, and quite of few of those are "not on purpose" - therefore there is plenty of population growth for everyone, and we don't need catholic breeders to come in and save the day. So when you speak about indignation and cognitive dissonance, feel free to turn that back on yourself - acting like you're doing the world a favour when in fact you are doing yourself the favor is obnoxious at best, delusional at worse.
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