Monday, October 22, 2007

Existence

I have often thought that the point of living, for humans, must be to live a good life and rear healthy children that enrich a society. Then again, that's basically saying our whole point of existence is to reproduce.

That seems almost pointless.

Just sayin'.

3 comments:

Don said...

Didja ever read Podkayne of Mars? Poddy's uncle (classic Heinlein dangerous old curmudgeon character) has always told her a story about a little girl named Poddy who skips along the canals of Mars, but he never tells her the end.

At the end of the novel, Uncle agrees to tell her the end of the story.

"Poddy passed the days until she grew taller and greater and in time, she found a boy she loved and she had a little Poddy of her own. The end."

"But Uncle," Poddy asks him, "Is that all there is?"

"That's all there ever is," he tells her, "but it's enough."

HollyB said...

John, rearing children who have the capability to ENRICH a society is not so easy a task as it sounds. You, my friend, are an enricher. I like to think that my Dearly Beloved and I are as well. I know that one of my children will be an enricher because she is going to teach what I think of as one of the most difficult age groups and one of the most difficult subjects in today's American Society: Middle School English. I hope that my other child decides to grow up and do something more fulfilling than what he does now. He is by no means a drain on Society. He works, has insurance benefits and a retirement plan. But... anyway,

If you look around you, and I really think it's a matter of being observant, not judgemental, you will see that there are not that many folks that actually ENRICH our lives. Teachers [at all levels], Healthcare [of all levels] Workers, LEOs, Artists [again,of all types, I include them because they bring beauty to our lives], and I know I am leaving out others, I didn't mean to compose a comprehensive list.
But my point was that having, and raising children really is NOT pointless. It is, pardon the expression, our Biological Imperative. The challenge lies in raising children who enrich our society, or at a minimum, do not drain its resources.

J.R.Shirley said...

Thanks, guys. Don, that does help.


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