eighteen?

have y'all heard about the family who is pregnant with their eighteenth child? this astounds me. and disgusts me a little.

I understand it's a part of their religion that they're so, um, fertile, and I'm trying to be open-minded, but...EIGHTEEN children? EIGHTEEN mouths to feed? On on hand, yay for them--fulfilling/practicing what they believe and doing so unabashedly...but, well. I gotta say, isn't this a bit selfish?

I mean, Americans are, by their very nature, selfish. We drive cars and throw away whatever we want to and have attitudes and feel entitled. We do. I admit that I do. But...I feel like, well. I feel like this is the equivalent of driving the very worst-mileage, most-polluting SUV, and filling it with bricks in the back so it stresses the car to the breaking point and makes its already-bad operation even worse. Because they have put EIGHTEEN more people on the planet.

A planet that is already running out of room.

I recognize that it's quite arbitrary where you draw that line--when does being fruitful and multiplying become operation: planet overload? Is it at three children? Five? Twelve? Does it matter how good the genes they're passing on are? Is it important to consider socio-economic status, global location, etc? What if their house is "green?" What if they're all vegetarians? What if they're Amish? (which they aren't but still)

I guess I'm just--just disappointed. I don't mean to be accusatory towards these people. Clearly their children are fed and cared for well enough that no one is even discussing how a family of eighteen might make it a little hard to give the children enough attention. I guess I just feel like they're using more than their fair share, and I find that to be a bummer. Especially when they're getting news coverage and the war, the melting ice caps, deforestation, etc aren't.

PS-I'm also WAY surprised that they announced they were pregnant only six weeks in. It is my understanding that miscarriages become less and less likely the more pregnancies you've had, but I'm still amazed they announced it with national coverage.

end rant. :)