Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 7 (October 1, 1937.)

Something to Think About. — Parents versus Non-Parents

Something to Think About.
Parents versus Non-Parents.

An article on this topic, which appeared in “Scribner's Magazine,” provokes thought. The main thesis is that we are in the midst of a new class war, the fundamental struggle of our time, a struggle for the possession of the future, fought on one side by those who have children and on the other by that strange group who may be called non-parents—they are more than childless as they heartily disbelieve in children.

The wants of the two groups fall into entirely dissimilar categories. The non-parents desire immediate benefits for themselves! the parents are concerned with improving conditions in this world where their children have to live. As an example the writer cited one locality where a fierce battle took place between non-parents, who desired the provision of a first-class road which would ensure easier accessibility and a rise in the property-market and parents, who desired the money to be spent on a new school with up-to-date laboratories. Which desire was the more worthwhile? And what caused people of varied callings and social status to range themselves on one side or the other? The possession of children.

Were the people who desired laboratories naturally more altruistic than the other group? No! The fact of being parents caused them to choose the finer, more altruistic scheme. So it is in most things. The possession of children causes people to plan for the page 58 future welfare of humanity rather than to seek the gratification of their immediate desires.

Master K. Fredric, winner of the first prize awarded to the best dressed boy depicting a railwayman in uniform at the recent Hokitika Grand Carnival Ball.

Master K. Fredric, winner of the first prize awarded to the best dressed boy depicting a railwayman in uniform at the recent Hokitika Grand Carnival Ball.

May I quote a sentence with many implications: “At any level of income, the childless are richer than the parents.” Should that be?