Big indigent families can't eat statistics
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May 16, 2005
PRO-LIFE advocate and lawyer Earl Anthony Gambe said something that struck me during last week's news conference at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC). Atty. Gambe said legislators who were pushing for the legislation of population-control measures in Congress also want "sexual rights" for children as young as 10 years old.
Under the proposal, a parent would lose any legal right to stop his kids above nine years old from using condoms and pills. I don't know if the information is accurate but if it is, I must say the congressmen who want a law on this are as crazy as their proposal.
A parent doesn't have to be religious to know how stupid this proposed law is. If the bright boys in Congress want their kids to have sex at 10, then so be it. But I don't want this government telling me when my children can have sex.
Make a law like that and soon, we'll be seeing 10-year-old kids having sex orgies.
The proposal must have been hatched by congressmen who think and behave like Romeo Jalosjos.That way, sexually abusing a 10-year-old would not be considered statutory rape.
I don't agree though with some of our "pro-life" friends that the economic crisis now gripping the country doesn't have anything to do with population growth.
Yes, corruption is a factor.
Yes, government mismanagement and inefficiency are factors.
Yes, debt service is a factor.
So on and so forth.
But common sense tells us that population growth is a factor, too. Of course, population has an effect on the economy like it affects the flow of vehicular traffic.
A box of pizza good for five people is only good for five. If you have 10 people, the slices become smaller, naturally.
Point is, pro-life advocates can cite all the statistics showing that population growth doesn't have anything to do with the economic crisis. But still, the figures won't change the fact that my poor neighbor-handyman Nanding can't feed his family of over a dozen.
The thirty-something Nanding is a very good Roman Catholic. He follows the Church's teachings. That's probably why his wife Susan is pregnant every year.
Problem is, Nanding is poor as a rat. He and his wife have no permanent jobs. The house he and his family are occupying is borrowed from a relative who lives elsewhere. I think only two of Nanding's children know what a classroom looks like.
As much as I would like to help Nanding, I can't because our resources are just enough for the family. The least I can do is to ask him to fix things in the house whenever my pocket allows me to, occasionally give the poor family used clothing and slippers, and send them food during Christmas and New Year's days.
Perhaps Nanding would still be poor if he had a smaller family. But a family of three rather than a dozen would have made things much easier for Nanding, definitely.
If the Church can’t really allow its flock to use artificial family planning methods, can it at least tell--even teach--its members who are like Nanding to go slow or use only methods acceptable to the Vatican? I don't think the commandment "go and multiply" means Catholics should turn their houses into baby-making factories. It wouldn't be a "sin" to launch a no-nonsense Church campaign for responsible parenthood using natural methods, would it?
And wouldn't it be wonderful if our priests used the Sunday donations to support Catholics like Nanding who have been following the Church's "pro-life" teachings? I'm sure God will not mind if the Sunday collections from Aparri to Jolo are used to help big indigent Catholic families.
What the pro-life statistics don't show is that if you are poor as a rat and you have many children, your family will have interrelated problems--malnutrition, health, illiteracy, unemployment, etc.--that would breed more problems. And sooner or later, the family problems will become that of the nation's.
We can't feed these families with statistics.
Pastilan.
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