What would life be like in a world with "Only Children"
What is an "Only Child"?
No brothers, no sisters… just only them
Imagine a world filled with them
I woke up and wondered why I was even needed
Why was I created?
Why was I wanted?
I am not an "Only Child"
I came after the first
Would the world have been better if ones like me were never here?
Are we redundant?
Are we extra?
Do we have purpose?
We did once
Families had lots of children
They were cheaper
And provided work for their parents
In today's world, children cost more
So...
Why have more?
Imagine a world with "Only Children"
It just might be perfect
But very lonely
© Ruby Neumann
Poet's Note: Poetry gives me a place to pull the deepest pains of my life and make fun of them, expose them and teach me how to grow and live and thrive in the midst of them.
I have been asking myself the question in the last year... Why.. Why do humans procreate? Why the need for children? And most challenging for my brain... why have more? One would seem to be enough...right? Why do women want to go through the pain of childbirth again? So many questions. But I think what they all led to was this one...
Do I matter?
I would like to believe the world is better for having the seconds, thirds, fourths... and for my Aunt Wilma... even the seventeenths in it. Because it is not as lonely.
P.S. I found a book that I would like to read... it opens up the story of China's One Child policy and what the consequences were of that directive. I would like to know more about that. Once I read that book, I may come back to this dilemma of mine and find more gratitude at being second.
