12.26.04

Gettin' Hitched and Makin' Babies

The purpose of life as a concept is to make more of itself. So that your offspring can make more offspring, and so on. That's it, that's all there is. I'm not religious and I certainly don't believe in any gods, so for me that realization can get a little depressing.

I've spent the last few days here in Connecticut at my parents house and have seen and heard from a lot of people in the middle of weddings and babies and building houses to put the babies in. And most of these people are my friends and family and I bear absolutely no ill will toward them. If that's what makes them happy, then more power to ya.

I'm 29 right now and don't plan on getting married in the foreseeable future, if ever. Now, I'm all for meeting a woman that I want to be with. I think that finding someone to who can challenge me and experience life with me would be an amazing thing. But marriage to me seems to be a lot more about property and social approval with a splash of religious ceremony thrown in for good measure. Off the top of my head, less than half the people that I've known to have gotten married, are still married. So where was "til death do us part with them". And don't get me started on the fact that you need permission from the state to get married. Why do they get to decide who you can couple with?

The problem is that you're at a severe handicap if you try to get on with life without being married. Between the wedding gifts and tax breaks, not to mention dual incomes in many cases. Married people are a leg up right from the get go. And my unofficial poll shows that parents are much more willing to help out their married children financially. Maybe I'll have to get married just for the mortgage down payment help.

And I've also got no real urge to have children. Sure I see cute kids and think, "wow, wouldn't it be great to teach someone else about the world". But I look around me at the the way the people that are already here are behaving, and the idea of putting my kid through all that is terrifying. People who come to conclusions about the rest of the world without ever traveling out of the country. Spending more on killing people than educating them. War, and greed, prejudice, and soccer moms with SUV's with those fucking "support our troops" ribbons on them. I got an idea, how about not driving a car that forces us to go to war for oil in the first place you track suit wearing idiot. But this is not a politically spun 365.

My mother wants grandkids, of course, but I think her real fear is that I'm going to be alone when I die. Or that there will be no one to take care of me. But is that a good enough reason to bring another person into the world? The answer is a definitive "no".

If people fall in love and want to make vows to each other. Great.

If people want to make the conscious decision to have children and raise them to be educated and open-minded. Great.

But if getting married and having kids are all life is about. Then I want off right now.