The Jay-Hawk & The Human

No.111: June 10, 2022

Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free, but please consider becoming a paid subscriber to enjoy all my offerings!

Photo by Izaius Luis

---

Dear Friends,

We were married nearly three years before having our first child. We were young. So, so young. Free and unencumbered, just the two of us living happily. We were in no hurry to add a third to our family, but we were also not at all unopposed to the idea. In hindsight—why is it always hindsight?—that initially understandable desire to delay was likely mixed in with a dash or two of selfishness.

Kids are inconvenient. It sounds harsh, but we might as well speak plainly. Children emerge utterly helpless and you have to do everything for them. And not just occasionally, when it fits into your schedule. You have to do everything for them all the time. It is a full-time job in the maximal sense of full time. I completely understand why young married couples feel a bit of reluctance to have their lives completely reoriented and turned upside-down by the arrival of children. I understand it because I lived it.

I am thinking about this because of this astonishing thing I saw on Twitter:

That’s Ezra Klein, an American journalist and co-founder of Vox. I have no reason to think that he is lying and I cannot think of what he could possibly stand to gain by lying, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to believe. Is this really the number one question he gets at speeches and dinners and casual conversations?

If it is, then Charles Murray’s theory in his book Coming Apart is more true today than when he wrote it a dozen years ago. America is “sorting” itself into social and cultural bubbles that are impervious to the rest of the world. He called them “Belmont” (the wealthy and elite zip codes) and “Fishtown” (the lower/middle working class zip codes). If you ever want a “window” into Belmont, to get a sense of what Belmont folks think or are worried about, look no further than Klein’s claim above.

Apparently, the ideology of environmental doom has so seeped into the atmosphere and social fabric of Belmont that it forms the presupposition—the very taken-for-granted premise—in questions of whether to have children or not. Pardon me for simply not … computing. I understand wondering whether to have children for selfish purposes. But I confess that I cannot relate to not wanting to have children for would-be selfless purposes. I have never encountered that particular pretension before. Should I spare my children the world, or should I spare the world my children?

I feel very sad for people who are wrestling with such a question, to be caught on the horns of such a ridiculously contrived dilemma.

I won’t bother (right now, anyway) trying to undermine the environmental catastrophism at the bottom of all this. As I say, it is a bedrock presupposition and I’m not easily going to argue someone out of it. For now I will just observe that if it is true, or taken to be true, then the dilemma is insoluble. Pick your poison—we’re all damned to climate change disaster regardless of whether you have children or not.

But I want to suggest, if you are someone in thrall to this fake “Sophie’s Choice” dilemma (I know, doubtful), that you should go ahead and have the kids. Because children are the overlooked wildcards in this conundrum. The assumption is that children are passive entities in the world—indeed, net negative passive entities. They are agents of pure consumption or pure pollution. In the terms of Ezra Klein’s questions, they are either inevitable sufferers or inevitable suffering-producers.

The beauty and glory of children, however, as anyone who has them knows—and obviously the people asking Mr. Klein their agonized question do not know this—is that they aren’t passive consumers, polluters, or zero-sum economic dead weight. They are human beings. And humans are producers. They are thinkers. Problem solvers. Creators. Artists. Geniuses in a thousand ways. They are not like animals, born to simply hunt, gather, and consume. The military term “force multiplier” seems apt. Inject a new human being into a community, and you do not have “one more mouth to feed,” you have one more intelligent and creative mind, one more passionate and compassionate heart, and two more industrious working hands.

“Here is the difference between the animal and the man,” wrote Henry George in 1879: “Both the jay-hawk and the man eat chickens, but the more jay-hawks the fewer chickens, while the more men the more chickens.” Isn’t that a brilliant insight? Human beings are capable of husbandry. Stewardship. And innovation.

So, by all means, the people who ought to be concerned most to have children if there is a coming crisis are those who believe in the coming crisis. More people means more problem solvers. Maybe, just maybe, that kid you decided not to have was destined to invent reliable carbon-free energy? Ever think of that?

But allow me a brief final word to those who are not in Belmont and in thrall to environmental catastrophism. It seems to me that it is becoming very common for young Christian couples to intentionally not have children. Sometimes this is in service to a pious desire to do “kingdom” work without—ahem—the additional burden or hindrance of child-rearing (note those woeful assumptions). Or maybe it just is a kind of selfishness of the sort I described at the beginning of this newsletter. Either way, listen up:

Children are 100% added value. Yes, they are demanding and they take a lot of energy, but the miracle is how your solitary life will seem dull and monotone compared to the Technicolor world of having another little human in your world for whom to care and in whom to delight. They do have mouths, but they are not just “mouths to feed.” Those little mouths laugh, giggle, cry, talk, ask questions, and even dispense wisdom.

Moreover, children are a way to extend your influence, discipleship, and to project power into the world beyond your mortal life. You want a legacy? Do you want to be remembered? Then produce a family tree. Hundreds of years from now you might just be a name (so-and-so married so-and-so), but you will be remembered. Even in two generations young men will say, “As my great-grandfather used to say…” and though you are long buried suddenly your words and your wisdom will still reverberate in this earthly atmosphere and people might marvel at your counsel and wisdom.

The Bible calls that fruitfulness. And that kind of fruitfulness comes most naturally by way of multiplication. So, if you’re worried about a looming climate catastrophe, have some kids if you are able. If you’re not worried about a looming climate catastrophe, then have some kids if you are able.

---

If you’re not a paid subscriber, please consider taking that next step! Behind the paywall: Monday’s Off The Shelf was an ode to a favorite and delightful novel: J.M. Barrie’s The Little Minister. And Wednesday’s Quarter Inch was dedicated to some travel notes from my ongoing trip to British Columbia. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend!