I was wandering through a thread on another site that was discussing one of my posts, and I found this…
“I watched Children of Men again today, and it brought home to me, forcibly, just what a bleak and ugly place this world would be without hugs and kisses and delightful faces, and the chatter and laughter of children. A sombre thought.”
Of course, what sails right over this person’s head is that this ‘bleak and ugly world’ she refers to was created by the children of previous generations, most of whom I’m sure at one time hugged, and kissed with their delightful faces, chattered, and laughed. That is, before they learned to rape, and pillage, and shoot people, and blow up cafes with explosives.
There’s one particular scene near the end; the protaganist holds the only newborn child in the world in his arms, and picks his way between opposing forces in a firefight. For just a moment, the fighting ceases, as the child is beheld by both sides in quiet awe and reverence. But the fighting resumes before the guy even gets out of the area. It never ceases to amaze how people so easily manage to disconnect from the whole picture, picking out little parts here and there to make their cases. The writer is worried about the sad state of the world without children, without realizing that the world as depicted in the film, IS the real world RIGHT NOW, and is the way the world always has been, and the world is FILLED with children!
In the same thread, just above the quotation I posted, our commenter had this to say, speaking of death…
“It comes to everyone. I’ve often said that I would die if one of my children died before me, but I know that won’t happen. I will be severely wounded, but I won’t die. Dying is part of life. There is no escaping it. Children will take drugs and get into fights and cause you much heartache, but the bottom line is that they are, more often than not, worth it.”
Is it only obvious to me where her focus of concern lies here? It’s all about how the child’s problem or death would affect HER!
Never forget; procreation is an ultimately selfish act, and it’s always selfishness at the expense of an innocent third party. Always.
Don’t have kids!
