The statement "I did not ask to be born" is ridiculous. I could say more but it would come across as harsh. At the very least it appeals to a certain disdain of reality, to selfish egotism. No sane person could use that as a "reason" for not having children, because it is not a reason, it is an appeal to childishness.
Wait a minute...
We just got through talking about how many people are pained asking this exact question - precisely because they had no choice. And, then some of these same people were told that, "you are here, you are now, you live, get over it and make a choice."
Perfectly fine.
However, I think it is asinine NOT to thoroughly think about the implications LIFE would have on your own offspring - including afterlife considerations respective to your beliefs. I would say it is PRUDENT to think about the wellbeing of your future child, and to at least have a plan about how to approach and cultivate your child's best chances for a life and afterlife before having them. Others take it a step further by asking, "
Why do I want a child in THIS time, knowing THESE things about life and the afterlife: would my child want to be born into "this?" Would my child be able to stay strong and resist the powerful evil in the world - destroying his or her chances of being with the Creator?
Parenting is more than having children because the activity feels good, and then dealing with existential philosophy from the consequences of the birth of your child, and from what they bring up, on the fly as you parent.
That is reckless, and one of the reasons why people are highly confused about the purpose of their genesis - especially given the circumstances of this planet in the last 1500 years, frankly.
It isn't like they believe their child would save the world (like the Hebrews throuth prophecy,) or at least shouldnt;
someone has already saved the world. So, the idea that we are having children for a better tomorrow - like we are biological factories of reproduction producing more bodies for the betterment of the STATE - is the real ludicrous situation. I would like to think most people fully think about these physical, metaphysical and spiritual implications of having a child; not that we breed them, and then tell them to toughen up and deal with life. Then, there IS some responsibility that falls on the parent.
The main reasons people do not have children are:
1. inability, i.e. the person is functionally sterile
2. realization that the person is not emotionally or mentally capable of raising children properly
3. selfishness, the unwillingness to spend resources and time on somebody else (this one is destroying Europe as we speak)
Bull.
I won't have children specifiAly because of social, cultural, ethnic and spiritual reasons. People actually think about the implications of procreation for long periods of time before making the decision to have a child. Of course people are selfish, emotionally unstable, or downright sterile; those are facts of life (part of the facts of life some of us think about before breeding,) so it is very easy to give the list you gave.
But, it is by no measure the exhaustive list of reasons why people choose not to have children - and, they aren't even in the top 30 reasons.
You could have said peoe choose not to have children out of fear (of murderers, rapists, pathological liars, abusers, racists, bigots, nukes, etc.) and you would have been less insulting, and closer to an actual "Top 15" list of reasons.
It is good you never had this existential dillema, however it makes you ignorant if the side of the argument that makes a well-reasoned argument for not having children - even those who question why persons continue to breed seemingly without thought further than what a five year plan demands.
