It’s a question that’s raised fairly often in discussions at my age. I’m almost thirty, unmarried, and have never expressed a deep sentiment for children either way. But, when I read editorials like Paul Krugman’s Betraying The Planet, in today’s NY Times, the answer is – in no uncertain terms, “Absolutely not”. And, on top of it, I need an explanation from new parents as to how they were able to face down the science that is readily available to us all – the science that paints a scorching picture of our planet’s future and whose looming deadline seems to creep ever closer – and make a conscious decision to people this planet with more innocents – innocents who, from day one, are also consumers. (Note: I am not trying to make a judgment, I truly want to know how.)
I want to know, as I look down the row of computers to my left – each one populated by mothers and fathers – how they can spend 8-10 hours a day making money instead of making this planet a safer, healthier place for their children to inherit. I want to know what they do in their off-time, their real-world lives to ensure that their children won’t die young in an insane heat wave or enlist in the military in order to fight a war over access to clean drinking water. In short, as someone who has made a conscious decision to add more beings to an already overpopulated planet, how is it possible to do anything without weighing the impact it will eventually have on the planet that your bloodline inherits?
Yes, I desire a family. I desire to inculcate a little person with everything I have learned in my years of trial and error and adventure. I desire cute baby clothes, hearing Mama for the first time, and height charts on the wall. But, who do I desire these things for? Do I feel there is a soul somewhere floating in the ether saying, “Please birth me onto Planet Earth! There’s nowhere else I’d rather be!” Hell no! That’s ridiculous to think that. I want all that stuff solely for selfish reasons. I want to experience my pregnancy. I want a child to strengthen the bond between my future husband and me. I want that child to care for me when I am elderly.
But, what do I want for the child? I want my child to live an enlightened, peaceful life. I want my child to experience the beauty of the natural world. I want my child to know, live, create, and share love. I want an Indigo Child. And I want a world that will match my child’s beauty and purity. But, in order for that to happen, I need to be creating that world in every step I take every day that I live.
So, that is my last question to new parents and parents-to-be. Is that what you’re doing? Are you conscious of how every decision – whether minute or major – is part of the foot print you leave on a planet you ultimately bequeath to your children? Do you use that awareness to lighten that footprint until it’s almost invisible? And if not, at this point, how in the world could you possibly do anything different?
(Note 2: Although the tone of this piece sounds self-righteous at points, please know I am asking myself these very same questions and hoping if anyone reading has found answers that work for them, that they share them with me. - Julie)
