Time Immortal

David Warren — always a treat to read — hits one out of the park in his latest offering, noting that in the modern era, adults have given up having children but claimed the rights traditionally afforded to children for themselves.

Sound dubious? Let him explain:

It might even be said that the “rights of childhood” — I am trying to form this idea in contemporary terms — have been transferred, by successive Acts of Parliament, from children to the childless.

What are these rights? Chiefly, the right to play, often away from mature supervision; the right to breathe, away from traffic and similar threats; the right to live in a fantastical world of one’s own invention;* the right to refuse responsibilities; the right to demand entitlements, and to receive the fruits of others’ sacrifices; the right to be taken care of, and empathized with, whenever something goes wrong.

These were all, in previous generations, among the solemn rights of children, but today belong almost exclusively to a much older class with large disposable income, which is to say, “Dinks” (double income, no kids). To which we might add, “Shinkeroaks” (single high income, no kids, eschewing relationships of any kind). And I have noticed that the sound of a noisy child is extremely unwelcome in the environments they have created for themselves.

While this last remark might be taken as carrying a political edge — and it is true that the (mostly urban) childless provide the demographic backbone for all “liberal” and “progressive” parties today — it should be said explicitly that the Left has no monopoly on dinkish and shinkeroaksome behaviour. It is available to anyone who wants to buy into what the late Pope called “the culture of death,” in which we live only for ourselves, and for the moment.

…

This would be the formula for Pavlov’s dog, who under laboratory conditions gradually becomes the pure creature of pleasure and pain, reacting to stimuli like a machine whose controls lie entirely outside him. He may think he lives entirely for himself, but in fact he does not live at all, except within a scheme of “social engineering.” A normal “dog’s life” is something he can no longer even aspire to.

Make children if you want to rise out of the Pavlovian. Or if you can’t make children, find a difficult hobby: for the worst fate imaginable is a life of ease.

Just so, and as excellent a summary as one could ask for of what happens to a society that passes up on children. It is almost impossible to have kids and be selfish, for children force us to sacrifice in order to attend to their needs. Conversely, it is all to easy to be selfish when one has passed up on parenthood.

Footnote: in fairness, I have to disagree with Mr. Warren’s remark in this article concerning photographers. While I certainly will admit envy and appreciation for the many talents on display in a truly magnificent painting, and praise the skill of the artist, I cannot say that I agree with the categorization of photographers as being somehow “lesser” to those who craft images with easel, brush, pen, and paper.