Thursday, February 5, 2009

THE CHEESE HAS FALLEN OFF OF HER CRACKER!


There is a command by God, in the Bible (King James version), that goes something like this: “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” There was a reason for that. The world needed populating back then, and it did not take long. Later, here on this continent, new settlers were having very large families. There was also logic in this. They needed all the hands they could get to help with the farming and ranching. A family of twelve children was not uncommon.

I know what some of you must be thinking….. “Well, you, yourself are second oldest of eleven siblings. Where’s the logic in that?” My answer would be, “Well, I don’t really know right off hand, but I’d guess it had something to do with a.) Dad having been a devout Catholic, and b.) I suspect that Mom really loved being pregnant from beginning to end. She must have gotten some kind euphoria from it.” To me there is no logic in having a bunch of kids just because the Catholic Church said to. However, I would not trade anything for any one of my siblings. They are all special. I really believe that Mom and Dad both truly loved children. It just did not turn out the way they had romanticized it would be.

Here’s what I’m getting at. The 33 year old woman in Los Angeles who has added octuplets to her brood of 6 (ages 2 to 7), is off her bean. This whole thing has become a sideshow attraction. There are or should be limits. It is of my opinion that The cheese has slipped off her cracker! (For nostalgia buffs, I first heard Andy Taylor say that to Barney Fife ... I think.) Her own mother thinks it’s because Nadya Suleman grew up an only child.

What? Is she then punishing her parents? It certainly appears she is doing just that. She has thrust total responsibility on them, financially and as caretakers. A neighbor has said that she (Ms. Suleman) is a good mother, and that she loves children, and has always wanted a large family. And, where is the husband/father/provider in all of this? Oh … there isn’t one. And, what’s more, the 6 older children (includes one set of twins) were also a product of invetro fertilization. It appears here, that her desire for children over-rode any logic and/or common sense.

The doctor that implanted her because of her, “clogged fallopian tubes” has no cheese left on her cracker either. There are some huge medical and ethical questions looming here, not to mention questioning the sanity of an unemployed, unwed woman who thinks she needs invetro fertilization to have more and more babies on her own, at her parent's expense. Are there any ethics in that? Will tax payers have to foot any part of this bill for hospitalization and medicine for these eight babies?

It appears that there are many sides to this. One of these sides could be that this woman (Ms. Suleman), saw that there were families on television that were being paid to have their unusually large family lives televised. She has hired a firm to handle T.V. shows, book offers and other media deals. It’s too early to discuss how much money she might get for this, but she is asking two million to tell her story. Hmmmmmm..... There seems to be a motive here.

There is the Duggar family of 18 children. I’m not absolutely certain if Mrs. Duggar is through having babies, but they’re now focusing on her oldest who has just gotten married, and experienced his very first kiss on national television at his own wedding. My oldest daughter says that she thinks they are their very own cult.

Then there is Jon and Kate Plus 8. Bless them. Here, I don’t see much intention as far as trying to set a record. I don’t think they were trying for another multiple birth as much as they just wanted to have another baby. They did, however, go for fertility treatments when they were not getting pregnant right away. When they were found to have multiples hatching, I believe there must have been a real moral dilemma about terminating any one of them. I do believe their intentions were good, and the media stepped in with a way for them to take care of these babies. This show focuses on parents of multiples and every day trials and tribulations therein. I won’t be doing this myself (all those babies) in my next life.

As I said, there are many sides to all of this. The world and the economy are in a very angry, volatile state, and over population is literally pushing us off continents. All of these children are innocent. Now what?