Jordan went in for egg extraction this morning. (Why they don’t just call it eggstraction is totally beyond me. Marketing opportunity utterly wasted.)
I get to sit in the car and wait.
It’s one thing to consider being a father and having a child come in a normal way. That seems pretty natural. But rushing through manual stimulation to put a sperm donation in a little cup before speeding to the eggstraction (I won’t miss the opportunity) so Jordan can be anesthetized and have eggs surgically removed, then have eggs and sperm mixed up outside the body, live in testtubes for 5 days and have a smaller number put back in seems really unnatural.
Like we’re doing an end-around on evolution.
There’s probably good reasons, biologically, we haven’t yet had children. My parents struggled to get me and my brother. Although we’re pretty awesome in a lot of ways, we’re severely lacking in others.
So maybe although I have a lot of traits that would be good to pass on, the ones that aren’t shouldn’t be? And so for whatever reason my reproductive system is much less effective than others’.
However, the blessing of posterity is the greatest that can be granted to mankind. And anything should be sacrificed to obtain that blessing. Discomfort. Money.
Abraham basically gave everything. Having a child at 100 and 90 (let’s give Sarai her due) seems absolutely bonkers. Then being asked to sacrifice him 14-40 years later when he’s the only inheritor also seems nuts.
Maybe the modern version of that is paying money (a real sacrifice for many people) to have children.
But what will they be like?
Mental health problems are pretty dominant on my mom’s side. Maternal grandfather, both my mom’s siblings. My mom certainly has issues she won’t admit to. Kurt and I both have depressive tendencies, even if we’re not likely to admit it out loud.
Most of Jordan’s siblings have some sort of mental health obstacle. Some cope better with them than others. Jordan copes well some days and not others.
Are we expanding the mental capacity of humanity, while doubling the mental health susceptibility of our children?
Or is that something we can teach and parent around?
Jordan worries about some kids getting my physical genes and some of them getting hers.
That’s probably a good worry.
How will we encourage all of them to grow up to work hard, sleep long, and eat well?
And is it ok that some are beanpoles and some are tanks?
Yes. But how do I teach them that?
What is the world going to be like?
Lots of people buy homes based on the school district they are in. I’m pretty sure in 15 years, school as we know it won’t exist. Or there will be enough options that we won’t have to indulge poorly executed prison systems (that happen to have sports).
If nothing else, the COVID pandemic has taught us that we can act differently than we have and the world will still continue.
Maybe they’ll call me soon and my brain can stop waiting.