is it our duty to procreate and have a child?

Question

i am oblivious of any obligation to have a child and populate the world. Am i numbed to my duty! Am i a selfish 2006 narcisistic brat? Is it the ultimate gift to the earth and to the community? Who is qualified to answer this question with authority?

Answer 1

If so I have failed so far. I want children in the future but only as a gift to myself not to anyone else in the world.

Answer 2

NO! It's practically your duty NOT to have a child, given the terrible overcrowding of the earth which is coming up rapidly. I cannot stand people who think they have a right to have six or twelve children. If everyone did it, the world would be fatal due to overpopulation.

And no one is qualified to answer this question with authority. If only the Pope would get off his backside and allow people to use condoms, the earth wouldn't be in such poor shape. All those dirt-poor mothers with twelve kids who aren't allowed to use birth control. God's representative on earth, indeed.

Answer 3

I don't think it's your duty but I think the majority of people want to procreate. I say do whatever you want, I don't think there should be an obligation to feel like you have to have kids in this day and age. People take having a child too lightly so if someone thinks that it's not in their best interest to be responsible for a human life, then they shouldn't have kids.

Answer 4

No, you are not duty bound to have a child. I don't think it's narcissistic or selfish to abstain from parenthood. Certainly, there are enough people filling the gap for those who have no children.

Unless, that is, you are intelligent, thoughtful, healthy, and possess great common sense. Then, please, pass along the good genes.

I think the best person to answer this question is anyone who has taken a look at population statistics.

Answer 5

You have a genetic drive to reproduce. However, many ethical issues involve overcoming genetic drives. Unless you are a believer in one of the "God Cults" you have no duty to procreate. Each human on the planet is qualified to answer this question with authority in so far as it applies to them.

Answer 6

No, many people are creating children unconsciously due to societal pressures and feeling the need to expand themselves into someone else, based on a lack within themselves. Many parents would be better off doing inner awareness work first, then the need to have children may not need to be fulfilled.

Answer 7

It is actually equally, if not more selfish to procreate. It goes back to the need to pass one's genes on, which sounds fairly selfish to me. It's also selfish to continue bringing people into a world that is both overpopulated and full of orphans. I commend you on not wanting children.

Answer 8

Only if your ego dictates that it is imperative for your to pass down your genes.

Otherwise, giving a child to the world only serves its economic purposes. A child is a consumer, producer, necessitator, inventor, entrepreneur, and all those human things that humans introduce to the hapless planet.

Answer 9

But that's just the start. We're only successful if our children have children. Like a horse and a donkey can have a baby, a mule, but the mule is sterile. So making babies is easy, making those babies have babies is a little tougher.

Answer 10

If someone doesn't want a child, they shouldn't have one because they're not ready to raise them right. So, no, you're actually doing a service to the rest of us by not having one.