I'll start this week's session with a question that is much harder than it sounds: why do we have children? Obviously if you ask this question of a million people you will get a million different answers. But what originally prompted the question was a situation in which my friend "Rebecca" finds herself. Rebecca's current position is that she is not planning on having any. My response to this is: awesome. The response she most often receives to this is: that is incredibly selfish. Wait, what? Not having kids is selfish? Interesting. I'm not sure how in a world so overpopulated we do not have enough food, jobs or safe housing for everyone, choosing not to have a kid is the selfish choice. I am primarily certain of this because I have never in my life made a decision that wasn't 100% selfish. And I adore my little contribution to overpopulation. So I am fascinated by this response.
But what really prompted today's post is a show I happened to watch yesterday. Ok, let's get this out of the way--it was on the E! channel. When you are brain dead most of the day due to exhaustion, trust me, E! is about the most you can digest. Anyway, the show was called "My Kid is Going to be Famous." It was a "reality" show in which parents who put their kids in a constant parade of talent and/or beauty contests are tailed. And it was painful. There are many variations of this show out there, and every one makes my head and my heart hurt. The parents are frequently either ambivalent or defiant as to the fact that they are pushing their children into events solely for the purpose of re-doing their own childhood. The kids are frequently doing it either for their parents' love and attention or out of fear. As I said, it's painful. But this post is not about my judgment of other parents. It's about not judging those who aren't.
While these kids may enjoy the activities, and while I have no doubts that they have developed precious skills as a result, I can't in good faith believe that the parents began the process for an reasons but their own. And as I hinted above, I have yet to come up with a "public good" argument for having children. But, again, not having kids is what is considered selfish. So my point, dear readers, on this beautiful Sunday morning is let he among us without sin be the first to condemn (from the Rent version of The Bible). Whether your friends, relatives, neighbors, grocers, etc. choose to or not to have children--it is his or her decision. I advise respecting it because mirrors can be harsh. Now please excuse me, as my son has infant golf lessons to attend.
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