The child: A blessing or a curse?
Published Jan 15, 2023 00:05 am
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Updated Jan 15, 2023 00:05 am
THROUGH UNTRUE
Fr. Rolando V. De La Rosa OP
Every newborn child is a proof that God has not yet despaired from creating new human beings. The Feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child) reminds us that every child is a blessing. Sadly, for many people, a child is a curse, a threat to their security and comfort.
In 1989, the UNICEF promulgated an agreement, signed by 196 countries, that assured the right of a child "to survive, grow, learn, and reach their full potential, without discrimination." Despite this noble initiative, millions of children around the world are neglected, abused, victimized, and even prevented from being born.
Die-hard proponents of abortion and contraception consider having children as a burden, if not a disaster. Brainwashed by the outdated Malthusian prediction about the consequences of overpopulation, they think that the continuing increase in population is the cause of misery and poverty.
But the New York Times listed the overpopulation scare as "one of the myths of the 20th century" in its January 1, 2000 Millennium Edition. The eminent Peter Drucker, a self-described social ecologist, in his book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," gave this devastating verdict on countries with stringent birth-control policies: "The most important single new certainty is the collapsing birthrate in the developed countries. They are drifting toward collective national suicide."
Drucker was right. Thanks to the legalization of abortion and the widespread use of contraceptive devices and procedures, fewer and fewer children are born in developed countries, turning these into aging societies. In 2002, United Nation figures showed that one in every 10 persons in the world is 60 years or older, but by 2052 the ratio will be one out of every five people.
What is happening in Europe is even worse. In the 1990s, the European Community population growth rate was already approaching zero. Germany’s population has declined since 1974, while the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark have experienced zero growth since 1980. The French demographer Michèle Tribalat predicts that the original European population wouldsoon vanish because of what she calls a "process of demographic substitution." The immigrants and refugees from other countries are quickly replacing them.
Asian countries that have aggressively adopted the birth control programs of developed nations also face the prospect of extinction and rapidly aging population. Birthrates in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, are below replacement levels.
In America, there are at least 1.5 million induced abortions every year, resulting in an enormous amount of flesh and bones needing an adequate disposal system. What to do with the aborted fetuses? The profit motive immediately came into the picture. Now, scientists see the great benefit in stockpiling and using spare fetal parts for medical purposes or aesthetic therapy.
Poverty and misery are not caused by population density but by unequal distribution of resources. Try going around the Philippines. Much of its land surface is empty. The problem is not overpopulation, but overcrowding, or too great a population density in urban places like Metro Manila.
People flock to the cities because they are made to believe that opportunities for economic mobility are found there. Legislators would better pass laws allowing the people in the countryside to share in the much-publicized profits of trade globalization than pontificate on the number of children couples must have.
They should also look into the adverse effects of international trade and financial arrangements, which our government recklessly enters into. For instance, the IMF and World Bank, which claim to be working to assist Third-World countries, are actually worsening their agony by over-burdening them with debt payments and depriving them of affordable access to technology which they need to further their development process.
Fr. Rolando V. De La Rosa OP
Every newborn child is a proof that God has not yet despaired from creating new human beings. The Feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child) reminds us that every child is a blessing. Sadly, for many people, a child is a curse, a threat to their security and comfort.
In 1989, the UNICEF promulgated an agreement, signed by 196 countries, that assured the right of a child "to survive, grow, learn, and reach their full potential, without discrimination." Despite this noble initiative, millions of children around the world are neglected, abused, victimized, and even prevented from being born.
Die-hard proponents of abortion and contraception consider having children as a burden, if not a disaster. Brainwashed by the outdated Malthusian prediction about the consequences of overpopulation, they think that the continuing increase in population is the cause of misery and poverty.
But the New York Times listed the overpopulation scare as "one of the myths of the 20th century" in its January 1, 2000 Millennium Edition. The eminent Peter Drucker, a self-described social ecologist, in his book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," gave this devastating verdict on countries with stringent birth-control policies: "The most important single new certainty is the collapsing birthrate in the developed countries. They are drifting toward collective national suicide."
Drucker was right. Thanks to the legalization of abortion and the widespread use of contraceptive devices and procedures, fewer and fewer children are born in developed countries, turning these into aging societies. In 2002, United Nation figures showed that one in every 10 persons in the world is 60 years or older, but by 2052 the ratio will be one out of every five people.
What is happening in Europe is even worse. In the 1990s, the European Community population growth rate was already approaching zero. Germany’s population has declined since 1974, while the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark have experienced zero growth since 1980. The French demographer Michèle Tribalat predicts that the original European population wouldsoon vanish because of what she calls a "process of demographic substitution." The immigrants and refugees from other countries are quickly replacing them.
Asian countries that have aggressively adopted the birth control programs of developed nations also face the prospect of extinction and rapidly aging population. Birthrates in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, are below replacement levels.
In America, there are at least 1.5 million induced abortions every year, resulting in an enormous amount of flesh and bones needing an adequate disposal system. What to do with the aborted fetuses? The profit motive immediately came into the picture. Now, scientists see the great benefit in stockpiling and using spare fetal parts for medical purposes or aesthetic therapy.
Poverty and misery are not caused by population density but by unequal distribution of resources. Try going around the Philippines. Much of its land surface is empty. The problem is not overpopulation, but overcrowding, or too great a population density in urban places like Metro Manila.
People flock to the cities because they are made to believe that opportunities for economic mobility are found there. Legislators would better pass laws allowing the people in the countryside to share in the much-publicized profits of trade globalization than pontificate on the number of children couples must have.
They should also look into the adverse effects of international trade and financial arrangements, which our government recklessly enters into. For instance, the IMF and World Bank, which claim to be working to assist Third-World countries, are actually worsening their agony by over-burdening them with debt payments and depriving them of affordable access to technology which they need to further their development process.