Random Thought #7 : Gift of God

I read a joke. Here it goes .

The new minister's wife had a baby. The minister appealed to the congregation for a salary increase to cover the addition to the family. The congregation agreed that it was only fair, and approved it. When the next child arrived, the minister appealed and again the congregation approved the increase. Several years and five children later, the congregation was a bit upset over the increasing expenses. This turned into a rather loud meeting one night with the minister. Finally, the minister stood up and shouted "Having children is an Act of God!" An older man in the back stood and shouted back "So are rain and snow, but we wear rubbers for them!"

The joke sparked off these thoughts. Many a times have I come across these words - "Bacche to Bhagwan/Allah/Whatever-name-you-use-for-your-God ki den hai", and the ones who say it have a dozen kids, give or take a few ; and it suddenly struck me, are they? Really? Maybe, for a childless couple who have been trying too hard too long, it can be looked upon a great gift. Personally, the birth of twin daughters to millions of families in India would be one hell of a gift for India, given the seemingly FUBAR-ed sex-ratio. But for the rest of the cases, I say BS. What a load of crap! WTF , literally . A horny husband wants to do it, may be the wife does not let him that often, so he decides to cook up a solid excuse for it. Quite possibly his priest/padre/imam/rabbi helped him figure out a good one. "Woman, children are the gift of God, and refusing a gift from God is blasphemy”. Take that. Irrefutable logic. The magical wand of God/Religion was waved over it,and lo and behold, you have a football team. But that was then. One might say, that people were encouraged to have a lot of children , in the name of God , as the infant mortality rate was higher , and the average life expectancy lower . But then again , no longer true , relatively speaking . 6.5 Billion people and counting ! We should thank God for contraceptives. All I have to say is, please feel free to engage in this activity as much as you want to , but don't call it an act of God , and the by-product , His gift . But if men can kill in the name of the Merciful One, why not this?

On a side note, I remember reading about the Chinese manufacturing/distributing very cheap TV sets, for/to the masses, as a population-controlling measure. You know, keep the guys entertained through other means, as for most of them, being poor, it is the only recreational activity. Interesting, eh? But will that work in India, given that most of the shows/movies aired do not necessitate a functioning brain. So ultimately, the blood of the male animal will not stay up there. Just a silly thought. :D

Corny jokes apart, we are heading towards some very tough times, given that we already are 6.5 Billion strong, and that number won’t go south short of WW III or the Yellowstone going boom. It seems to me, that most of the problems we face today are somehow related to the mass of the humanity that occupies earth. If the people inhabiting this planet were in sustainable numbers, who could have been fed, clothed and sheltered, then those who want to wage wars using religion, caste, creed, colour,nationality,race or their own asinine ideology would be out of a lot of soldiers. We think we are evolving , as a civilization, but are we? Leave alone the jackasses who want to go back to medieval times, what about the rest of us. Our technology, is mostly un-green, it makes our life easier, but creates a mess as well. It sounds very pessimistic, but nothing other than a disaster of biblical proportions, either natural or man-made, would restore the balance.

A thought provoking movie – Children of Men. Maybe, this what Mother Nature has in mind for us.



Source for the joke