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To: Antoninus
At the same time, I believe that those who are childless for selfish reasons should not be held up as paragons of virtue.

Have you been appointed as the judge to distinguish who is "childless for selfish reasons" from those who might be childless for perhaps a variety of other completely different reasons?

Just curious.

238 posted on 03/06/2006 9:58:56 AM PST by Allegra (Please pray for peace in Iraq.)
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To: Allegra
Have you been appointed as the judge to distinguish who is "childless for selfish reasons" from those who might be childless for perhaps a variety of other completely different reasons?

There is a Judge, madame, but it ain't me.

This sums up my feelings on the matter in a nutshell:

On motherhood as the true source of progress, Teddy Roosevelt said:

"A more supreme instance of unselfishness than is afforded by motherhood cannot be imagined."

Before an audience of liberal Christian theologians in 1911, he said:

"If you do not believe in your own stock enough to see the stock kept up, then you are not good Americans, you are not patriots, and ... I for one shall not mourn your extinction; and in such event I shall welcome the advent of a new race that will take your place, because you wil have shown that you are not fit to cumber the ground."

On the centrality of the child-rich family to the very existence of the American nation:

"It is in the life of the family, upon which in the last analysis the whole welfare of the nation rests....The nation is nothing but the aggregate of the families within its borders."

On parenthood:

"No other success in life, not being President, or being wealthy, or going to college, or anything else, comes up to the success of the man and woman who can feel that they have done their duty and that their children and grandchildren rise up to call them blessed."

On out-of-wedlock birth versus practiced sterility:

"After all, such a vice may be compatible with a nation's continuing to live, and while there is life, even a life marred by wrong practices, there is a chance of reform.

In another place, on the same subject:

"...[W]hile there is life, there is hope, whereas nothing can be done with the dead."

On the behavior of 90% of those who practice birth control:

"[It is derived] from viciousness, coldness, shallow-heartedness, self-indulgence, or mere failure to appreciate aright the difference between the all-important and the unimportant."

It should be pointed out that TR managed to have seven kids himself--despite being secretary of the navy, a Rough Rider, Vice President, and President.
479 posted on 03/06/2006 7:56:26 PM PST by Antoninus (The only reason you're alive today is because your parents were pro-life.)
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