The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-09-08

from being in love. Married couples
know this to be true. But just try
to get the in-loveS TO understand
the distinction. When one loves
someone very much, self is forgot
ten. When one is In love self is i'm
portant-so important that it very
often happens that the object OF
ones love Is sacrificed on the altar
of self.
This Is often true OF the soldier.
sailor or marine who wants to
marry before he leaves for the
front. He's thinking of himself. not
of the girl. If he has been married
a year or so. even less, his wife
wants a baby - she wants some
thing Of his. Whom is she thinking
Of? Certainly not the baby, his flu
ture or prospects She's thinking of
the baby as something to lavish her
love on. something to play with,
something that belongs to her.
That the world Is going to be a
tough place for the baby doesn't
deter her. That the baby may be in
danger doesn't deter her. She
wants a baby and when a woman
wants a baby there is no Offering
her any sort of compromise or SUBJ
stitute. She doesn't know she is
being selfish, but under the circum-
stances. what do you think?
They Don't Ask
Babies don't ask to be born, That
is why, when they grow up. they SO
often feel called upon to remind
their parents Of this fact. They feel
1t is necessary to remind them that
they are under no obligation to
them-that, in fact, the obligation
is all on the other side.
This is modern thinking In past
generations children did not think
this way or. if they did, they kept
their thoughts to themselves. Pa
rents felt their obligations keenly
but, when the children grew older.
they expected, even demanded,
that the children take over part
and perhaps eventually the whole
burden of their parents.
It doesn't often work out that
way any more. Because OF this
change in the filal attitude, one
wonders how these war babies are
going to look at the parental prob
lem twenty years from now.
The World War ! babies have
now reached mans estate. Many
are having babies Of their own, rea-
soning, no doubt, that World War
IFS war babies have as good a
chance of survival as they had.
Under normal conditions having
babies is normal business. The risks
attendant on maternity have been
mercifully minimized. Surely never
have there been healthier, happier
babies than the toddlerS OF today.
They are healthy and happy be-
cause their mothers were healthy
and happy. we'll nourished and well
cared for by specialists able to give
them the benefit Of every scientific
aid.
Worry for Mothers
The furlough bride may be
healthy. but she isn't either very
happy or very sure OF being able to
be nourished and cared for. isn't
even sure that when the time of de-
livery comes there will be a doctor
available. She has plenty of worry
without looking. or trying to look,
ahead into the future. So she must
be either fatalist, utterly unimag-
NATIVE. or possessed of tremendous
faith and courage TO have baby at
all.
The depression caused a vast
slump In babies. Couples lust
weren't having any. SO it seems
curious that a depression could
slow and a world war could in
crease the baby output. Couples do
not appear to need the sanction of
the government in order to have
babies. as If that were needed. But
whence comes their confidence in
the future? Surely not from the
government which doesn't guaran-
tee that each baby shall have even
the simplest necessities of life-a
nome 10 grow up in. mother to
grow up beside. Some mothers must
work and some fathers must fight.
so where does baby 60 from the
baSslnctte? A nursery school prob
aoly-li there are enough such to
take care OF the bumper crop that
Is already underway.
A baby is a perfectly natural Sc
quence in the life story beginning
when boy meets girl. But having
baoy is life'S most important bus
mess. SO 1t does seem that the
baby's chances should be weighed
against the perfectly natural and
too often selfish urge.