Last month
Congratulations to Elena Izquierdo for writing the article that prompted over 30 responses. That’s a first for Unscripted. I’d also like to thank the parents who decided to weigh in and make Elena’s point for her.
In case you missed it, the point was that some parents are miserable and are anxious for the people around them to be miserable, too. Nowhere did Elena say all parents were miserable, but of course, people who make knee-jerk reactions and are easily offended usually aren’t careful readers.
For instance, Proud To Be A Mother opined, “I get the feeling that you are one of those people who shouldn’t have children. You would be one to physically harm or verbally abuse a child …” What a thing to know about another person after reading a single article! So Elena, by virtue of choosing to remain without children, must be a child abuser. Or is it, Proud To Be A Mother, that you are miserable, and rather than face your own misery, you decided to attack a person who had done nothing to you?
Sandra had this to say: “Do you CL/CF people ever ponder the fact that if your parents had decided to remain childless, you wouldn’t have been born,” and, “I can’t help but wonder what would happen if most people decided to remain CL/CF. I guess the human race as we know it would be no more.” These logic-free sentences indicate that Sandra somehow believes being born obligates someone to produce another person for no other reason than gratitude for their own birth, and that, if one person chooses to remain childless, this threatens the entire six and a half billion people on the planet. Exactly how the extinction of the entire human race follows from Elena’s choice not to have children isn’t clear. With our species well on our way to an estimated 9.1 billion by 2050, perhaps Sandra should be more worried that Elena will change her mind and reproduce, and thus make the world Sandra’s children will inherit just that much more crowded.
At least Sandra was honest enough to admit she had children for the rather poor reason of trying to “fill a void,” so we must admire her for her honesty there. But really, with parents like Sandra and Proud To Be A Mother willing to go ballistic and get abusive over an article that doesn’t even concern them directly (if they’re happy with their decision, anyway), is it any wonder the childfree think a lot of parents are miserable?
Ah, don’t answer that. Or, well, do, but that will simply prove Elena’s point even more. No matter how happy parenting makes some people, there are others who are clearly miserable, and willing to take their misery out on strangers. For underscoring the point better than anything else ever could, many thanks to both Sandra and Proud To Be A Mother. Your attacks and lack of critical thinking skills are amusing, and everyone could use a chuckle these days.
Copyright Martha Kneib. Published 1 September 2008 in Letters.
Reader comments
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What a fantastic article! Thanks so much for posting this.
permalink — 2 September 2008, 15:54
Excellent summary of a most heated and spirited discussion! Thanks for posting the truth from the childfree point of view!
permalink — 2 September 2008, 20:21
I’ll never understand what the “what if everyone decided to be CF?!?” assertion is intended to do. Frighten me? It’s very Chicken Little “The Sky Is Falling!”, isn’t it? Oh Heavens! There won’t be as many people here after I’m already dead and gone! What ever will we do?
I say Good Riddance to the most dangerous and destructive plague that ever beset this planet.
permalink — 3 September 2008, 10:28
I think the reason this article was such a hit is because Elena wrote about what childfree people don’t say in order to not sound like jerks and what parents won’t admit because they are afraid to sound like jerks as well. She hit a nerve and that was obvious in all the comments that were submitted.
You did a great job wrapping things up and summarized it perfectly! I look forward to more articles like this in the future; articles that deal with what both parents and childfree people are thinking but might not admit because it is taboo or not politically correct.
permalink — 4 September 2008, 14:46