There have been worse times to bring a child into the world. Both of my parents were born during the great depression, and then lived through WWII, my mom, her parents, and brother and sister nearly starved to death in the Nazi occupation of Holland and witnessed jews being taken away to the death camps. I think those times were worse! I mentioned before that my niece and two nephews do not want any children because they believe the apocalypse has started. That would be worse if it were true. I don't believe it is. I am more optimistic about the future of mankind and the ingenuity to solve the world's problems that are ahead of us.
Have you read ETTY? Etty Hillesum was a young Dutch-Jewish woman. Like Anne Frank, she kept a journal during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Unlike Anne Frank, Etty’s story wasn’t subject to her family’s censorship after the war.
When Etty gets pregnant, she writes about her qualms of bringing a child into a world where he will suffer, if not die, for being Jewish. She determines it’s *not* fair and self-aborts her fetus.
I have one child, David, age 55. He chose not to have any children, now that it is too late, he is conflicted. It’s such a personal decision. No time is the perfect time, but here we are, still having children. If not now? When?
There have been worse times to bring a child into the world. Both of my parents were born during the great depression, and then lived through WWII, my mom, her parents, and brother and sister nearly starved to death in the Nazi occupation of Holland and witnessed jews being taken away to the death camps. I think those times were worse! I mentioned before that my niece and two nephews do not want any children because they believe the apocalypse has started. That would be worse if it were true. I don't believe it is. I am more optimistic about the future of mankind and the ingenuity to solve the world's problems that are ahead of us.
Some, like Steven Pinker, would say that these are the best possible times. https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_is_the_world_getting_better_or_worse_a_look_at_the_numbers?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
I will watch the Ted Talk. Thanks for the link.
Yes…they are our hope and the reason we fight to fix this.
Great article in My Jewish Learning/Rabbi´s Notebook! The Sachs quote sums it up well.
Have you read ETTY? Etty Hillesum was a young Dutch-Jewish woman. Like Anne Frank, she kept a journal during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Unlike Anne Frank, Etty’s story wasn’t subject to her family’s censorship after the war.
When Etty gets pregnant, she writes about her qualms of bringing a child into a world where he will suffer, if not die, for being Jewish. She determines it’s *not* fair and self-aborts her fetus.
More about the book, and about Etty, here: https://www.white-rose-studies.org/pages/smelik-etty
I have one child, David, age 55. He chose not to have any children, now that it is too late, he is conflicted. It’s such a personal decision. No time is the perfect time, but here we are, still having children. If not now? When?