Day 39: Get Corporate America Out of Your Womb!

I am getting more than a little tired of people popping out six or eight babies at a time and expecting others to help subsidize their island nation. If you choose to have a litter, rather than a child, than it should still fall on you to subsidize their feed . . . I mean, food. I do realize that having so many children at once is a tremendous burden on emotional and financial resources, I can barely support myself how do you support six at once? At the same time, no one forced you to go forth and propagate so readily. I would like to propose that henceforth, all corporations and charities focus their donations to the needy TO THE FUCKING NEEDY!

I’m not saying they don’t need the money, but what they need more is some common sense and a little restraint. When people have six kids the hard way no one gives them washers and dryers or crates of diapers. They support themselves because they chose to have a large family and are taking on the financial burden along with the emotional blessing. Please don’t tell me it was God’s will. They got fertility treatment and yes, if you believe in it maybe God did bless them with a stockpile of embryos, but first God also decided maybe they shouldn’t have babies, hence they were infertile. Maybe that was God’s will and the fertility treatment was science. Either way, the choice to pump oneself full of drugs and fertilize a pile of eggs is done through free will, not divine intervention.

Once the decision is made to spawn said litter it is quite apparent that at least one full-time care-giver will be required, so it is out of the question for both parents to go back to work, or if you are a single parent as is the case of the OctoMom, then you have no choice and no income. I get all this, but I also believe that having a child is a privilege and not a right. It is your responsibility to ensure that when you choose to bring a child into the world—and make no mistake, it is definitely a choice—then you are ethically required to provide for that child. You should be able to feed, clothe, house, and educate your children. If you cannot do this, than perhaps you should become a mentor or foster parent to share your life with a child.

Do not misunderstand, I am not saying that only the rich should procreate, I am simply stating that whatever your income level, you need to be able to provide. It makes no difference if their clothes come from Wal-Mart or Nordstrom’s. The point is that there is clothing, or food, or whatever. For most people this is not an issue, though certainly it can be hard. As a child growing up in a single parent family, my Mother earned poverty level wages and refused to accept welfare assistance, it was very difficult, but she did it. So we had “breakfast night” because eggs are cheap, or grilled cheese and Campbell’s soup, it didn’t matter to us and she did her best. No one wend hungry, but she did make some sacrifices.

I do not believe that it is our job or that of government or corporations to provide for the greedy. I am a “raging liberal hippy” as a friend once called me, so yes, I too believe in the virtues of welfare, but not for those who purposely put themselves in a situation in which they will need financial assistance. The Gosselins and OctoMoms of the world must rely on the assistance of a public that feels obligated to help. What most amazes me about this isn’t their generosity, but the fact that we have impoverished people in our own nation and around the globe that cannot feed themselves or even one child and we call them lazy and mock their condition.

I think any act of kindness and generosity is beautiful, but I also believe that we have an obligation to help those with legitimate need. How can we dismiss every homeless person the world over and yet feel it is justified to help an over-privileged few who could afford fertility treatments in the first place, not just to get by, but to have top of the line appliances, clothing, etc.?

Every time an OctoMom gets free formula or diapers it degrades the hard work of real parents struggling to make a life for their family. I’m not sure if our fascination with the overhyped and un-entitled will ever dissipate, but I hope along with the novel supersized families out there we start to see the real families in need. There’s a little place called New Orleans that we’ve all forgotten about and could use some help, there are families in crisis in every major city in the country, and I’m pretty sure there is more than a little poverty happening in more than a few third world nations. Maybe GE should send some of these people a dishwasher, maybe Gerber would care to feed some starving infants in Zimbabwe, and just for kicks let’s see if the Ace of Cakes or Orange County Choppers feel like visiting some people in real need instead of another TV family to pillage ratings. For that matter, let’s stop using our wombs as a PR tool and get back to caring about people who are already here and not for ratings or freebies, but because they are humans in need.