Grandchildren are the dessert of a life well-lived. But am I really supposed to be the just icing on that cake? Perhaps I’m the main course. No dessert.
As I view everyone around me growing up — it seems like I’m growing in a different direction. I’m not ready. And maybe I don’t even want to be ready. Maybe I don’t want to bring more people, who can’t even fit properly, into this floating globe? Maybe new little people aren’t supposed to breathe polluted air? I know that don’t want the struggle. I don’t want the worry. At least not yet.
The positive is that I’m not feeling alone with my thoughts. More and more women are choosing to live childfree. Articles upon articles with women “opting out”. And maybe I’ll join them. Maybe I won’t. Maybe my bloodline dies with me. Maybe it’ll live forever. Who am I to decide such a thing?
Who am I to decide such a thing… As a byproduct of IVF, I’m grateful for technology. I’m happy to be here. It’s sure been good fun. But what baffles me is the idea of “the right to have children”. Hey! We live on an overpopulated planet who’s slowly dying and all worth fighting for is the right to bring more people here? It doesn’t make sense. Especially since we’re poisoning our bodies with the food we consume and ruining the environment simultaneously. It doesn’t make sense that we’re more infertile than ever. And that we still need to try. Even the politicians seem to only have one agenda — to get women pregnant. Whatever way it may happen. Because it’s their right.
I think that’s what bothers me the most. The brain-washing of not being able to be “fulfilled” without experiencing motherhood. That it’s politicized. That my body is seen as a vehicle for populating the planet. Nothing else. And I don't understand how people can be cool with that mindset.
Can someone explain?
