Octuplets + Six = Crazy

I love my kids. I love my kids more than anything on this warming planet of ours, but that doesn't mean that I need to head out and pop fertility drugs to expand my brood by eight. Apparently I am nothing like the a Fullerton, California woman who recently gave birth to octuplets last week, after already having six (yes, SIX) kids that she also produced from fertility drugs and a sperm donor. Come on already. Who exactly was this dim-witted doctor who decided it was a good idea to impregnate this women with eight embryos. I understand that she didn't actually think she was going to have eight kids, but just seeking out the drugs and the sperm were irresponsible enough given that she is unemployed and living with her parents.

Okay, maybe this is where I should step back from my judgments. I am not opposed to anyone who is unemployed and living with their parents. We are in difficult times and it's not unreasonable to reach out for help when you need it. What is unreasonable is bringing eight more children into the world when you can't support the six that you already have; when our world is suffering from over population and a lack of resources; when there are more than 100,000 children in foster care wishing for a family to call their own. This was not a mere "accident" if you will, but a woman who sought out a medical procedure that would ensure that she would, in fact, find herself pregnant, yet again; she sought out a procedure that is known for producing multi-birth pregnancies, and there is a doctor out in the world who has allowed this to happen. It seems utterly ridiculous to me. Beyond utterly ridiculous. I believe that every woman, should she choose, be entitled to give birth to a child by any possible means, but I don't think that it is a responsible decision to continue to bring more and more children into the world in the midst of an environmental and economic crisis with thousands of available children waiting for homes. Call me crazy, but that's how I see it. Here are the numbers:

1804 - 1 billion people on the planet

1927 - 2 billion people

1960 - 3 billion

1974 - 4 billion

currently, we have approximately 6.75 billion people on the planet.

If you are over 40 years old than the world has more than doubled in size since you were born. The numbers are increasing at a faster rate than ever before. Crazy, no? And during this time the amount of fossil fuels that we are using has increased at a speed breaking pace. It has become a double whammy for our planet. While we have been very fortunate to have the medical breakthroughs that extend our life span, we still have to control ourselves a bit. Go off, kids. Have your fun but protect yourself for God's sake. And protect our country. And, please don't go asking Ms. Fertile Myrtle for overly zealous procreating pills. Enjoy the youngin's that you have, or even better, welcome another youngin' to join your kin. Tap into your inner Angelina. The world will be better off for it.