Do YOU believe that it is irresponsible, even selfish for poor and

1. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 8 years ago

   
   impoverished Americans to have children, being fully cognizant that they can only "provide" their children with an inferior, even substandard quality of nutrition, medical/ health care, and educational opportunities, severing impairing, if not irreparably ruining their chances for future success?

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      janesixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely.

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         gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Poor & impoverished people in America who knowingly have children today are causing their children to have severe disadvantages in life.  Poor & impoverished children have inferior quality nutrition.  It's not unusual for poor & impoverished children to go to bed hungry.  They also receive subpar medical & health care.  They attend poor school which diminishes their chances of receiving a good education.
         
         Poor & impoverished people in America have absolutely nothing to offer their children in terms of opportunities & advantages.  Most likely, their children will continue the cycle of impoverishment & being poor as their parents & grandparents have.  Poor & impoverished children will be part of the unemployable underclass of the future because they cannot afraid the technologies which would enable them to attain the perquisite quality skills & education in order to progress to the solidly middle class  &/or better.  Poor & impoverished children because they have no technology as well as no books &/or other forms of intellectual stimulation in their homes are doomed academically thus being condemned to a precarious life of governmental assistance.  When the dominant, affluent society gets tired of this, they will enact drastic measures as to how to deal with the underclass population & it WON'T be government aid!

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The key to your mansion, gm, is this one little word: TODAY.
            
            
            Today the world is not welcoming.
            Today there is no common sense.
            Today there is no intelligence
            Today there is no truth.
            
            I agree. Girls:
            Keep the nickel between your knees until TODAY is way way better!!!
            Or at least wait until you have freaking husband who loves you, can stay loyal to you through thick and thin and will love your children enough to talk to them, mentor them, advise them and keep them on a path toward positivity, and on a positive life spiral where TRUE hope exists.
            
            Thanks for this Freedom of Speech

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               gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               You're quite welcome indeed.

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      wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Umm...are their chances for future success better if not born at all?

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         PhoenixVposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Think of all the people that were born in poverty.  Abraham Lincoln comes to mind. Poor people are not the problem in the world. It is other people that are, in my opinion.

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            wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Or my g'grandparents, who brought my grandmother to life.  A crippled lady that didn't see a doctor for years, and couldn't go to school until the family was rich enough to buy a horse to carry her there.  Who lived on a dirt floor for the first 10 years of her life.  Who, as a child, helped the family earn pennies by taking in laundry.
            
            Who gave life to my mother, who brought me into a life of at least semi-poverty but one filled with love and happiness.

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               PhoenixVposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               An amazing story really Wilderness. You and I could walk away from everything and eat persimmons and catch a fish and survive.  Other people that got credit cards and BMWs, and play the stock market..... you know success stories... would not last long if they had to start from scratch in a tough spot.

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                  wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  I have a book...a "diary"...from my g'uncle, who recorded some of the happenings back then.  G'grandma was the first white woman to enter the valley they lived in, g'grandpa the second settler.  Tales of "fishing" with a .22 rifle; enough salmon would allow them to survive the winter and fishing was not considered a sport.  Of travelling 3 days (now a 1 1/2 hour drive) to a cannery to can their vegetable produce in the town 5 miles from where I now live.  Of grandma the day she got her horse and could go to school - years later to take the train 400 miles to Portland, Or. to see a doctor and get braces for her twisted leg, that allowed her to walk (after a fashion).  Of G'grandpa digging miles of irrigation ditch by hand (and without a laser level!) to water his homestead.  Of g'uncle's shipping business; a single wagon that was taken over by his wife when he died and that eventually ended up in Yellowstone as a tourist attraction. 
                  
                  One of the more interesting was g'grandpa taking the wagon and family berry picking (again necessary for survival) and having the horses run away.  He left the family stranded, (asked a neighbor with a wagon to get them) riding the only horse left, and eventually found his other horses - in the hands of a group of hunters.  They said he could have them back for $50, but that was a year's wage of splitting fence posts and simply not available.  G'grandpa left (they had guns and he didn't), but snuck back into their camp that night and freed his horses.
                  
                  A truly fascinating book, and it surely makes one wonder about the "poor" today, with their wide screen TV, cell phones, computers and internet, refrigerators, furnaces, along with a host of other goodies completely unknown then.
                  
                  I often drive through that little valley on my way North.  I'd love to see their farm, but it and the small town that came later are now underwater from a lake created by a dam.

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                     gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     This is indeed a VERY BEAUTIFUL story.  You should write a hub on this.

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                        wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        It's odd, sometimes.  I grew up 150 miles west of that valley, spent my middle years 2500 miles away on the east coast, and now have moved back to just a few miles south from the old homestead.  Who would have guessed!?

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      colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Like that others who have commented before me, no, I do not believe that at all.
      
      No, no, no, no, no.

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      Quilligrapherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Rich or poor, I would never want to see my parents or my grandparents miss out on the boundless love they received from my bother and sister. Nor would I trade my siblings for better nutrition, health care, education, or material success. I gather that you consider these personal gains more valuable than siblings.   
      
      For some, it may be difficult to understand how some families with limited means actually reap physical and emotional rewards from having three or more children. On the other hand, people who never had siblings may never understand.
      

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      oceansnsunsetsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      No, I don't believe in that idea/belief, that is is selfish or irresponsible, especially in this day and age with all the help available to the truly poor person.  I think that belief is a dangerous idea at its core, and can cause a lot of heartache and regret and even immoral actions.  It has been used to end countless innocent human lives, for instance through abortion.  People that are confused and hearing rhetoric like you mention there, are likely to fall for some ideas that will change the course of their lives and their would be children's and would be grand children's lives for generations "not to come."
      
      I would be very wary of anyone that tries to pass of such ideas as a good idea, or a morally superior one.  Life, and the opportunity to live vs. not, is something much bigger than any of us, and ought to be respected as are the lives of the people some are talking about not having come into existence, or potentially ending the existence.  Many people volunteer and work hard to pay taxes (in our country alone) to help avoid this very thing.  Many a very impoverished person has contributed greatly to our world, much more than some very wealthy and successful, etc.  There are many horrible people out there, that are wealthy and can give their kids the best education and procreate also and leave a wake of destruction.  Its not magic, its about depth of character and the chance to live to observe and be free to make a life for oneself.  This is what we observe and see.
      
      Give life a chance I say, and don't assume the worst even in the worst of situations for anyone.  We are not in a position to make such determinations, but its very strong talk, even a power struggle that comes from what is truly not good.

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   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   Poor families can give children wonderful upbringings.  My mother grew up completely impoverished, became a teacher and raised two daughter who became university professors.
   
   If someone had forbidden my extremely poor coal miner grandfather and his wife from from having those kids the world would be deprived of over 20 wonderful productive human beings and all their accomplishments.
   
   Sometimes my Mom did not have shoes or had to shoot her own dinner or share a small cold bedroom with three sisters, but she was loved, respected and raised to have aspirations.

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      PhoenixVposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yours and Wilderness' stories are truly inspiring.  I almost get emotional reading them.

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