Children and other offspring

Having children - or not - is a hot issue here in the UK, in the news every now and again. The Daily Mail tends to publish articles on the wonders of parenthood and how 'the experts' agree that it's best for a woman to stay at home and raise the kids, while The Times tends to put things in better perspective. Sometimes they get it wrong, too, maybe just to annoy people like me. For example, this article on the advantages of not having kids. First of all, I hate the picture (I'm afraid you won't see it on the website, but it's a woman - I'm sure she must be American - wearing a T-shirt that proclaims CHILD FREE AND LOVING IT. Bah!) and frankly the arguments for not having children are lame. Yes, it is basically selfish not to have kids, but so what? Apparently the Pope spoke out against this trend to live life only for one's self, but if I'm not mistaken, the Catholic church is run by people who don't choose marriage and kids for 'one's self'.
It's a thorny issue, and I'm getting to an age where we will have to decide sooner rather than later.
But I love kids, always have, and I think spending time with children is a blessed experience. See, here are photographs of my beloved nieces, Emma and Anja:



Whether you have kids or not should be your choice. And that of your conscience, inclination and circumstances.

But two things made me think again about the children issue. On Thursday I taught at a horrible school, what a dump! It looked like a prison from afar and not much teaching gets done, due to the unruly, arrogant, rude and disruptive behaviour of the students. I have a lot of empathy for these kids, because they come from somewhere, like me, and who they are, are to a large extent grounded in their defective upbringing. These kids are mostly (they do have a choice, of course) the offspring of not-being-loved-enough. And their parents, and their parent's parents...it's a pointless downwards spiral. But is it not selfish to bring your own child into the world, knowing there are so many millions out there who desperately need somebody to love them enough?

Secondly, I saw these pathetic photos of polar bears here and it breaks my heart. There is just too many of us on earth.