From: ransom@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr S. Ransom)
Subject: Re: Why reproduce? (was: Re: Another Irate Dad Kills)
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 00:53:48 GMT

>In article <1992Sep29.062122.23059@cs.su.oz.au> allanc@cs.su.oz.au  
>(Allan Creighton) writes:
> ...
> Why in christs' name do you guys WANT to procreate?
> ...
> I'm serious with my question, and would appreciate some honest answers.

To answer your question, for me it is primarily an emotional experience.  
If you haven't felt it then we simply aren't talking the same language.
Being logical is like trying to explain to a born-again Christian that
they can't logically be feeling whatever they say they do.

I have a 4yo daughter in Family Court Approved joint (7 day rotating) 
custody.  In my opinion (my ex may dispute this) I have been her primary 
care giver since (before?) she was born and certainly since the marriage 
broke up when she was 4 months old.  To give an idea of the intensity of 
the emotion involved I am definitely not a masochist yet I have fond 
memories of when my daughter was teething of driving her around town at 
3am trying to find rough roads to send her to sleep.  I can also recommend 
"10 Green Bottles" as a lullaby - it has only about a dozen words to 
remember and that can become extremely important by the third successive 
night of no-sleep :-).

Kamchar@ibm.cl.msu.edu (Suncat) responded to the original:
> ...
>Here's an honest answer.  I don't want to have children with the world
>in its present condition. ...
>                          ...  on the grounds that I had a pretty
>miserable childhood and would more than likely pass it on to my
>descendants.  Who has the right to pass on memetic damage to the  
>next generation?
>
>... As people continue to choose dysfunctional (read f*cked-up)  
>partners, evolutionary forces can only lead to a continued increase in  
>violence between the sexes.  

As far as the state of the world, I grew up when it was argued that a 
nuclear Armageddon was imminent.  I looked back even then and I couldn't 
see a better time.  If there ever was a "Golden Age" outside of myth 
then I'd love to know about it.

I also had the archetypal f**d up childhood (alcoholic father and 
emotionally sterile mother) and it's taken 15 years of work and two 
major negative relationships to move to my current position.  I now know 
enough that I'm not repeating the s**t from my childhood with my daughter 
(I'm having to invent new bits :-) ).  I believe that we are the first 
generation with access to the tools which can help us to break this chain.
My parents didn't have any choice or chance.  I do.

It's taken a long time but I believe that I can finally recognise a 
(highly) dysfunctional other when I fall over one.  Of course the down 
side of this is that all the singles I've met in the last 3 years have 
triggered the warning bells so maybe it's a mixed blessing - a case of 
the one-eyed (person) in the land of the blind?
-- 
Stephen Ransom                        | Department of Software Development
Telnet: ransom@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au | Monash University
Phone: (613) 573 2181                 | Australia