Speaking with someone online today, I got the typical “Aww…no kids?” response after I told them I was CHOOSING not to have them. Not sure why that’s such a downer for the general population. I’ve always leaned towards the “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” mentality, and this falls right into it.
The conversation actually started with a tweet about someone seeing an obviously pregnant woman smoking while taking a walk. I responded with the obvious (to me anyway) response that it’s only been recently diagnosed as a health risk for babies, and that most of our parents and generations previously had smoking mothers.
My thoughts are that if you KNOW better and still choose to smoke, drink, take hardcore drugs etc while pregnant, then you REALLY shouldn’t come looking for handouts if the child you have birthed is now screwed up.
To me, that is the crime of selfishness, rudeness & a strange sense of entitlement that I don’t understand. If I did that to my baby willingly & knowingly, then what gives ME the right to ask the REST of SOCIETY to pay for my screw up? It’s not your problem, it’s mine and I did it intentionally through my own ignorance and lack of intestinal fortitude to not determine the bad habits should be stopped immediately. If it happened thru no discernible fault of my own, or I adopted a child that developed issues, well then that’s another story entirely.
I also feel that as a responsible person, I do not need to pass on genetic defects that may increase the already fragile and distorted genetic pool that we are now living in. I have poor eyesight, allergies and teeth that will get cavities if you look at them cross-eyed. Those may seem trivial, but if you have enough people who aren’t in better genetic condition, breeding out of control, you run the risk of more genetic mutations and dilution of the genetic pool.
Anyone own a pet that is a specific “breed”? Well, you know what I am talking about. Look at the cows we eat or get milk from, the sheep we get wool from, the dogs & cats we breed as pets and the animals that run wild on earth. If you want to keep them strong and viable, then you breed the strongest, healthiest and most viable ones around to ensure that best genetic strength. Poor Cheetah population is so interbred because we just about killed them off at one point, that their males now barley have any viable sperm with which to breed to keep the species viable. How many people do you know who are trying in-vitro or other types of reproductive solutions because they are having breeding challenges?
Just because we, as the human species, are what we like to call sentient and at the top of the food chain (not really, but whatever), and have some sort of faith system in place, doesn’t mean we aren’t also an animal that inhabits this planet. It doesn’t mean we don’t all follow the same physiological rules as the rest of the species just because we can talk. Some birds can talk. Apes can use sign language. Whales and dolphins use language and sentences.
Because I can doesn’t mean I will or even should. As a sentient, intelligent being, I can make the choice to not pass on my defective physical genes if I so decide. Intellectually, as far as all the testing I have ever been subjected to has suggested, society may or may not lose out, but then, that’s not what it prizes anyway. At least, not according to the media. Society wants either hot, sexy, somewhat vapid people to breed…nevermind if they can tie their own shoes.
There are enough people in society that probably shouldn’t be “Breeding” that are, so any population gap that I may leave will be filled. I’m not worried. Nor should you be….just don’t say “Awww… no kids?” when a person has told you they have CHOSEN not to have them.
Thank goodness I can still make THAT CHOICE!
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