Which means that the societies in which they live will become more religious. And many of those communities are religious communities. Which means of course that communities that have hope will have more children and will set the demographic tone for the future of the West. A decision in one’s early years, while not always so, is definitely linked to hopelessness in a way that we are only starting to realise. Vasectomies on the way up, birth rates on the way down. The increasing number of childless people seeking sterilisation mirrors our country’s falling fertility rate, and similar trends around the world.” The article reports: “Medicare figures show that more than 6500 men under 34 had the procedure in 2020-21, compared with 3970 in 2014-15. Not having kids won’t change that, it’s merely an admission that it is the case. And the immanent frame we inhabit in our secular, post-Christian West, is running out of hope fast. They base them on hope – often transcendent hope. Interesting that many cultures have plenty of children base their decisions on more than their best life now. Please God no!īut without God? When your best life is now, why let something else – or indeed someone else – get in the way.īut when your best life isn’t now? When you realise that there is something more or beyond? That deep seated fear that they may die – or be harmed in such a way – that you not merely would die for them, but could conjure up the possibility of wanting to die if they did. Why would we expect that most complex of relationships to be so?Īnd what about that deep seated, never-come to-the-surface-before commitment that you would die for someone else’s sake, even when they are only one hour old? I looked into Sophie’s crib – at her tiny frame – and a hand grabbed my throat for a minute as I realised I now possessed a depth to my emotions I had never felt before. And also laughter, joy, delight, pride and togetherness. They can often make you feel that the pivotal middle years of your life (30-50) rush by in a flurry of sleeplessness, anxieties, frustrations, tears. Unless of course those hopes and dreams involve the sheer aching love you have for that squirming pupa the moment it is born.

They completely upturn the well-crafted order and hopes and dreams we had. (Though having seen the lonely figures sitting in shadows behind half-ajar doors in my dad’s aged care facility, many are already at that place).Īnd of course, kids DO get in the way of our lives. There’s going to be a whole generation of older people in retirement villages who will be terribly lonely and will have no one to spend time with them who is not being paid to do so. Many of those interviewed just said that children would get in the way of their lives, and their plans for crafting the life they want. “With the challenges I’m betting humanity will face, the fact is it’s just not something I’m happy to impose on a child.” With the challenges I’m betting humanity will face, the fact is it’s just not something I’m happy to impose on a child.” I’m not happy about having that view – I look at optimists and I really envy them – but I just see mounting problems and a lack of action and solutions. “The biggest one is just a pretty negative outlook for the future. What’s the point of dumping that all on a young person? Won’t they hate you for it anyway? The Quintessential PessimistĪs the article reports, one man Michael, who is married, and works in the disabilities sector, is the quintessential pessimist who turns up for the snip: Climate change, sustainability issues, warfare, massive political upheaval. Often the reason that men are giving to Dr Low, who often asks them to consider their options before going ahead with the surgery, is that the world is running out of hope and why would you want to bring a child into it? It’s a challenging procedure at the best of times (mentally more than physically, and don’t ask how I know), but the squeamishness among many men to take that step after having several children, is now being replaced by an urgency among young men across Australia, and increasingly the Western world.Īnd one of the primary reason for getting the snip? Hope has been snipped off first. As the article reports, Sydney clinician, Dr Justin Low, is doing about 50 vasectomies per week, and almost half of them are childless men, many of them far younger than in the past.

Men getting the snip