IMO if those parents do not know the answer to the question of existence and why we are accountable... they would be crazy to have more children.
My MARRIED, college educated parents actually did everything to prophylactically "prevent" me from being born in this curren paradigm. They realized the existential burden of having a child in this current iteration, and really never planned on having me. I actually came about when a doctor insisted my mom go on "better, more equilibrated, but stronger" prophylaxis - promising that if I was born my tuition would be free.
Well... here I am. I went to uni on scholarship from the institution, not the doctor.
So, I consider my position unique in the sense that:
- My parents deeply thought about the risks and detriments of having a child
- Used proper prophylaxis
- "Ascertained" the risks of possible pregnancy on particular controls
- Made a conscious decision to be married without children
- Did not dump me in a dumpster when I was born.
- I cannot, in good conscious, point a finger at my parents
In fact, when I was born my mom was told to abort me right there. She chose life instead.
So, I
cannot blame my parents for bringing me into this world because they did everything they could, responsibly weighing the times. They were MARRIED, so technically they didn't have to use control at all. So, the option that is most infuriating is that my birth - especially seeing and hearing all of the medical implications having grown up - was an act of Providence. It was purely an allowance of God.
This begs the usual existential questions with perhaps more "sauce":
- Why, then am I here?
- Is my experience meaningful? In other words, do I have to make it meaningful, or does someone/something else do it for me?
- Am I a simple agent of life with no real purpose (i.e. an animated, nameless character in the background similar to a video game or movie)?
- If not, then who/what am I?
- If yes, then why keep me around for so long? (This isn't a suicide appeal, this is an existential appeal: why keep me around if the main characters have "cleared" the area I serve as a background character? Or, when/has it been cleared?
- Should I invest in this life?
And, if I happen to believe in, or know God exists, these questions suddenly become arrogance, instead of what it is to the individual - an existential identity inquiry, possibly a crisis of self and faith. Instead, it now requires the individual to be focused on the beauty and majesty of his or her conception in general - and at all. In addition, existence is something that shouldn't be critiqued; it is a gift that you have no right to reject, give back or question the worth thereof. It usually creates psychological, intellectual and egotistical calamity within the individual. That leads to other "pathologies..."
This is really a gargantuan issue: the issue, "ethics, morality" and quality of choice in one's birth. A lot of what I posted sounds like suicide red flags; while it is true that meaningful essence of these existential questions provoke the individual to consider these philosophies in a very physical, it is no less important, I believe, to the individual in general. And, it doesn't signal suicide - in fact, I would say most "suicide" talk is NOT actually the suicidal psychology. It is some steps before, or past the point of serious contemplation, but the philosophy itself does not constitute suicidal behavior.
With talking (or, listening) to people around the world, and in different settings of vulnerability, I have come to a conclusion that
my philosophical history, experience and ideas toward procreation and current world paradigms is not unique. In fact, it is actually quite ordinary.
Why, then, is this a taboo subject - suicide implications and all? In my experience, it is not that it is taboo, it is that it reveals a vulnerability that humans naturally feel compelled to gaurd. That, alone should reveal a reason why one may want to consider current paradigms and children - if only so that they aren't squelched due to fear of exploitation of vulnerability. This fear of being vulnerable extends to, and includes God, a god, your ego, or whoever/whatever you deem your "superior." Isn't that something...