A friend of mine with six children emailed me with a frustrating day of events that started with "I'm grateful", meandered into "I used to have a life" and ended with "Why me, God?" She desperately wanted answers relevant to her Christian beliefs. Being the good agnostic friend, I rattled off my 7a.m. best:
If I knew any of the answers do you think I'd be sitting here writing to you? No. I'd be wading in a hot tub with whoever my hottie-'o-the-day is because that's what you can afford to do when you're stinking rich from writing a book called "I Know Why and Other Secrets of the Universe."
We should be grateful to have kids healthy enough to do the things they do and I'm sure in our more spiritual hours we are grateful. That's a separate issue from the very real daily experience of being hammered into an intellectual vortex by an onslaught of questions, quandaries, and situations that would tax even the most superior mind.
I speak, of course, of God. While we lament on raising our children, we must remember that God gave up his only child. Well, technically God gave up his only child to someone else to raise. He knew what a mind-bender it would be and he wanted nothing to do with it.
It's said that Joseph and Mary were blessed with the birth of Jesus. Given that biblical journalists didn't much fancy the word of women, we'll never know how Mary really felt about all this but, if you were so inclined, you might think the number of children you have is in direct proportion to the amount of heavenly goodness that awaits you. Sounds good until you realize you'd get a bunch of heaven whilst Mary gets very little and that's not likely.
Article comments
1 - Guppusmaximus
I know that we truly could never be prepared for parenting and I believe this is something people should take into consideration before having a child or children because even on a simple level of existence,wether you believe in God or not, people are overpopulating this planet. I don't agree that the variables of Parenting change, I do believe it's a hand-me-down of morals or the lack of that we pass on to these kids that causes the problems. With the lax attitude aptly named "Pro-Choice" which doesn't leave much room for higher standards I feel the level of expectation will be on a downward spiral and the human race will not be the only ones to pay for it!
2 - Michael J. West
Thoughtful and hilarious, all rolled into one! Thanks Diana. :-)
Re Comment 1:
I don't agree that the variables of Parenting change
Well of course they do. They have to, because times change. And that's not just about morals: when Democracy spread over the world, for example, parents had to teach their kids to vote and be civically responsible, not simply to serve their king blindly and trust in him to take care of his kingdom. When the class system died, parents had to teach their kids that they could be whatever they wanted when they grew up, not that they and their children and so on were fated to be peasants forever.
These are different kind of values, different ways of viewing the world, and different basic teachings. Those are changing parenting variables if every anything was.
3 - Guppusmaximus
How to vote and view the world aren't parenting skills and don't necessarily pertain to the article at hand. Knowing what type of voting system we have doesn't set a boy on the wrong path...Not showing him the basic values of love and kindness or the difference between right and wrong would definately send him the wrong way. Did you need to know how to vote or understand the world synapsis to make it to your teens? The basic principles of parenting haven't changed in the least, so I do not believe that parenting variables change! Again, I say, the lax attitude aptly named "Pro Choice" only serves the self and will not further the goodwill of man.
4 - Victor Lana
Diana,
Despite all the "hardships" associated with parenting, I know that the greatest accomplishment of my life is being a good parent. That subsumes all of my goals, desires, and expectations.