One Child?

Might I just say... there is a "One-Child policy" in China. It's no joke. Below is a real photo of a real family in China who is unhappy with this "law."

This man from the photo who is a farmer in Guangxi, was interviewed by the New York Times and in his interview he said told them, “Last year, I had a son, so now we can’t have any more. But the tradition here is big families and lots of sons. So no one is very happy.” Note that he said "lots of sons;" having many sons in the Chinese culture is respected more than having a daughter. In past and some present cultures, the father was/is allowed to kill his newborn daughter, if indeed they want a boy. The boy stands for pride and hard-work. Their culture believes that a boy will prove the family better off than a female. They think that a boy will be more intelligent and will hold a better job to prove how their family values education in China. Though, this policy is not fair and families do not agree with it. Do they have a right? Does America have a right to say "we should limit our births to 2 children per married couple?" If you will notice, people of Chinese descent are one of the largest immigrating cultures growing in the USA. I believe they may come here for have freedom and a family. Could you imagine your husband deciding to kill your newborn baby girl after suffering through labor for 9 months? They may too come to America to give their children equal rights in education and life standards. Brace yourself, this topic may disgust you: Describing the story of one Chinese immigrant in New York, Kirk Semple and Jeffrey E. Singer wrote in the New York Times, “When he was about 30 — old to be a bachelor by the standards of his village —Wang Jianhua married Lin Yaofang and they had a baby, a girl. When Ms. Lin became pregnant again, in violation of the country’s one-child policy, the authorities made her get an abortion, relatives and friends said. When word of her third pregnancy reached the government, he later told friends, officials went to their house to take Ms. Lin away, leading to Mr. Wang’s detention. [Source: Kirk Semple and Jeffrey E. Singer, New York Times, March 22, 2011]... That's true. Can you imagine our government FORCING someone to have an abortion in order to essentially save overpopulation? Just take a moment to ponder and picture living in this society in China and having to stress over having one perfect child and a little family.

OverWhat?

Even though I was unable to attend class on Thursday, I heard a lot about it. The main thing I heard about that class was about overpopulation. A major question lies here... who or what has control over overpopulation?

I found this photo interestingly accurate. As you can notice, the bird is marked with the word "resources" and he is carrying over a dozen babies. This bird is a metaphor for our society's resources slowly but surely breaking down due to overpopulation. Statistics are beginning to show the increase of teenage pregnancy out of wedlock being a leading factor for our country's overpopulation issue. It is said that by the year 2047, the high school drop out rate for teenage mothers is going to increase by nearly 60%. According to various online resources, "parenting" is owed mostly to non-married, single parents under the age of 25. That rate is greatly increasing. What is happening to our society? The idea of marriage and the value of "saving yourself until marriage" no longer stands as a moral. One may say that this is arguable, but let's be real... go into a classroom and ask the class to argue no sex before marriage, you may hear tons of laughing remarks. Also, you might want to ask students in a college classroom to raise their hand if they stand true to this effort, or better yet, ask those lovely kids in high school. It may not go over well. It is almost looked at as embarrassing in this day and age to still be a virgin before marriage. There is NO argument that open amounts of sex especially in teenage lives is a growing contributor to overpopulation, it's a fact. Government officials are losing their minds in trying to "fairly" distribute proper funding towards welfare in certain homes. What people need to realize more often is that some of these resources being mentioned have to deal with welfare and welfare is stemmed from "hard economic times." Well, pretty much EVERYONE is being effected by "hard economic times." Another resource is the fact that money from welfare is coming straight from our HARD-WORKING pockets. Resources are being killed due to overpopulation. Soon, that bird will be dead. Those babies might be too... if they're not treated correctly.

Emphasis on the... Huh?

I really enjoyed the class discussion on 10/4. When we were discussing how little do us large humans see the world. Better yet, a small creature such as an ant can be personified to view the world with his centipede-like eyeballs in a large manner. Stories or poems such as that shows us the relevance in portraying the world in a larger manner. There is truth in the ideal that humanity escapes the wonder or remorse towards our planet earth. Earth is remarkable and powerful and endures a sense of wonder due to the unknown. It is also ironic that something so minuscule and improbable would stir up such a controversy over our world's remarkableness. Little enough do we see the smallest aspects of this earth such as an ant or other insects, but better yet- they view our culture entirely. What amount of emphasis do humans place on the "real world?" Little to none at all. Relating back to my last post, people in today's society put major emphasis on technology. The use of technology could arguably be the source and cause as to why people, especially those in the most recent generation, are weakening their sensibility about nature. We are such a technology based culture in today's society that even the biggest natural disasters are forgotten. If you ask certain people what the Dust Bowl was, they may answer in "I don't know." This is common. Many people, especially young adults, do not understand the battle within nature that our ancestors and others had in trying to make our environment recognized and beautiful to be absorbed until current time. Their struggles in nature (i.e. the Dust Bowl) were their biggest challenges and successes in nature. People may not understand the empowering movement that that part of the country had to overcome in order to survive. We have it so lucky in this day. Materialistic things are placed on a higher standing than distinguishing the true beauty that surrounds us daily.