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My Pug vs. The Pope
The absurdity of labeling people without children as selfish
Earlier this week, Pope Francis made a statement that people who don’t want to have children are selfish.
During a discussion on parenthood with a general audience, he said that the practice of having one child or choosing to have no children was;
“a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, [it] takes away our humanity”
I’ve heard some form of this rhetoric all my life, and it still pisses me off.
I have a very clear memory of a conversation when I was about ten years old. It was with my grandparents and a few aunts and uncles.
They were teasingly asking what I wanted to be when I grew up, and eventually, someone asked me how many kids I planned on having.
“None,” I stated. By this time in my short life, I had already been in charge of changing my sisters' diapers, making sure her PB&J sandwiches were made, and cleaning up after her for years. I couldn’t imaging wanting to do that forever.
“Oh, come on now, you’ll want a couple!” my aunt laughed.
“You’ll change your mind — everyone does,” my grandfather said.
“What if you meet the man of your dreams and he wants kids — you’ll have to have them then, right?”…
