THE NEVER-ENDING CYCLE

THE NEVER-ENDING CYCLE
by Karen Beth Pike, Columnist

"Taking Care"

October 28, 2009

Where does it start? Better yet, how can this cycle be ended?

I've been thinking about the way some people look at life. An interesting conversation has been running through my head lately. I'll summarize it here, and comment afterward.

A friend of mine has a granddaughter that she has raised, put through high school, and was preparing for college. This grandchild decided that she didn't care for Grandma's rules, thinking they were too strict, and went back to live with her mother - who couldn't be bothered to raise her for the last several years.

Suddenly, this recent high school graduate who had a reasonably bright future has a quandary. She's pregnant. After discussing this with her mother, she's decided to have an abortion. She discusses this with her grandmother, who has the sense to discuss the real ramifications of such a decision, and they attend some kind of meeting where the procedure is discussed in some detail. Sometime during this meeting, grandma finds out that this girl is about four and a half months along in this pregnancy. Much more serious discussion ensues. Grandma proposes adoption, is rebuffed, and girl goes back to her mother. Incidentally, this is the exact same situation that the mother placed herself in about 18 years earlier. Probably without the abortion discussion since it wasn't as available as it is now, and also because Grandma still had some sway over the situation since it was her own daughter.

Suddenly, the girl decides the best course of action is to keep the child and raise it herself. Perhaps with the help of her mother - who has had little or no experience doing it either, having pushed the girl off to Grandma since it was so inconvenient to care for her own child. Grandma isn't particularly interested in raising yet another generation and who can blame her?

Oh... and Grandma is the only person in this scenario that is not on welfare.

Perhaps I'm the only one who sees this as the inmates running the asylum. How does an individual go from hating an unborn child enough to kill it, to loving it enough to keep it in the course of a few hours? The father is, of course, completely out of the picture, having been a one-night-stand. So who, exactly, will this child have as a good example to follow as it grows to maturity?

I have an idea that is not politically correct, but one that has the potential to solve a lot of bad behavior even before it starts. It could stop the welfare cycle in one fell swoop and give consequence for poor choices that is immediate and permanent. If you want me (and lots of other fine, upstanding taxpayers) to pay for your decision to be on welfare - you will be immediately sterilized (hysterectomy or castration would be best) and any children you currently have will be placed for adoption before you can collect your first check. I'm not interested in hearing the argument about sexual freedom being a personal right that no one can take away. No one asked me if I want to pay for all the Liberal programs that keep sucking away my income and giving it to other people and organizations that I would never support voluntarily.

Personally, I've had enough of liberals whining and scattering my tax money to the four winds in the effort to make everyone happy. I work my tail off… and I'm glad to do it, since it grants me my piece of the American Dream. Work is good for people, it teaches sacrifice, inventive thinking and responsibility. This country needs a lot more of that right now. The Founding Fathers practiced such radical ideas when this country was in its infancy and probably expected such behavior to continue.

Desperate times call for radical solutions… why not start with something that could save thousands of lives, pull a whole generation out of the slums and give many childless couples the chance to have a family that they desperately desire.

As for your reproductive freedom argument, how about getting involved with the church of your choice and do service in return for assistance in finding a job, or getting through a tough spot in your life. Not only will everyone gain blessings for such activity, it puts a lot of the right things back into people's lives and might even encourage the idea of families instead of ripping them apart. ***

Photo of Karen Beth Pike courtesy of the Konopa Photography