OftenBen War ThatFanficGuy lil ButterflyEffect
Today's Writing Prompt:
Prompt #25: BABIES!
Anything you want to write about babies.
I have two of them, though they're not really babies anymore. Of late we have been debating having a third. Life is so busy right now it's hard to even imagine a newborn on top of it all. But, I ask myself what I'll think in 20 years? Will I regret not having a third child? I think I would. They are pretty wonderful, babies. I need to decide by September. That's the cutoff. I'm pretty sure my wife's mind is made up. Making them is fun :)
Wiggling infant. Lil bean. Oh how I can't wait to have one. Though I probably should.
So I had an idea a while ago to write a poem with the title or refrain, "Too Many Babies." I was a little mentally beat yesterday from driving to Virginia and working in a different office/with a different team of people as usual, so I didn't get a lot of out of this prompt. Babies Too Many Bbaies too many babies. I turn to my right. There be too many babies. I climb up the stairs. Three whole flights. I climb a tall oak tree. Too many babies. too many babies. I walk down the hall. Too many babies. I go into a bathroom stall. How did that baby follow me? no matter where I look I can't escape the babies. I look to my life. I see - I go to the mall. I see No matter where I go
"Too many babies," -I like that a lot. I could make that in to a song :)
Being born into infancy is one of the worst forms of mental torture that exist in nature. You become completely helpless; not just physically, but mentally as well. The lessons you have learned in your life before, the beliefs that you have pieced together, the fun facts that you have stockpiled; all of these bits of information are shattered when they are channeled through into a new body. Many people spend the first few years of being in their new body crying because they are unable to cope with their attention constantly retrieving pieces of old experience. It is incredibly demoralizing to be reminded of thoughts that you used to be able to think of so easily. But you’ll get through it, everyone eventually does. Being born again can be considered an absolute brainwashing, because everyone eventually succumbs to their new brain’s wiring. This includes the ability to see, the ability to wiggle individual fingers and toes, the ability to control the open or closed position of your mouth, the ability to form a thought that is understandable to your own mind - you are forced to learn how to do everything again. However, it's not all bad, because it’s not completely from scratch. Reincarnation comes with some pre-built firmware, like facial expressions, the ability to respond to uncomfortable stimuli, and the game where people completely disappear and reappear again by hiding their face behind things. God decided that this was good enough for most infants. Any more, and the people they would grow up into might become too similar and boring.
I think the only babies that should be born, are ones that are wanted. I think a lot of other things too, but this seems like something everybody can agree on. Unwanted Children. What an absolutely terrible and heartrending, chest-beating, hair-rending, clothes-tearingingly sad set of words. I like this metaphor. If the world's a family, and the collective 'adults' have a responsibility for the collective 'children,' both for their own sake and for the sake of a brighter future, we must have the conversation about 'well, how many kids do we want to have?' We must be reasonable, and have a conversation about our means, our beliefs. What we will and will not compromise on. We have the resources. We have the knowledge. It is possible, that starting today, that no child would be conceived or born except to loving parents with the means to raise healthy, self-motivated pro-social adults. This probably sounds like eugenics. I guess it depends on your definitions.