More like a punishment, except it’s not even deserved. There is way more suffering in life than pleasure, it is immoral to bring someone into this world, and you have absolutely no responsibility to your parents for doing that, rather the opposite.
Your mileage may vary. Yeah, there are a lot of bad things in life, but that doesn’t mean life as a whole is bad. You don’t get to make that call when there are so many people who enjoy life. Not even if you define life’s pleasures as merely relief from life’s needs and strains.
To be clear, I’m not saying you should be having kids. You’re fully within your rights to judge the circumstances of your own life and where your kid would end up to decide if it’s right or wrong. Obviously it’d be wrong to have a kid in the freezing arctic with no hope of escape or survival for more than a few years. But you can’t say having kids is unequivocally wrong for everyone in every circumstance.
And if you truly believe life is wholly bad, that might be a symptom of depression.
Is it a Hallmark card platitude because it’s short or because it sounds cheery? Why can’t it be actual philosophy? Logically, there’s no way for you to earn a shot at life before you’re alive. Since it’s always given undeserved, earning it is entirely irrelevant. There’s no way to earn it, even by living perfectly. If you could earn it, you could earn a second life. I’m not talking about “oh wow, you’re such a good person” kind of earning it. Being a good person won’t earn you the throne of England either.
By default, you don’t deserve to be alive. But you can’t earn it either. It’s a gift.
More like a punishment, except it’s not even deserved. There is way more suffering in life than pleasure, it is immoral to bring someone into this world, and you have absolutely no responsibility to your parents for doing that, rather the opposite.
Your mileage may vary. Yeah, there are a lot of bad things in life, but that doesn’t mean life as a whole is bad. You don’t get to make that call when there are so many people who enjoy life. Not even if you define life’s pleasures as merely relief from life’s needs and strains.
To be clear, I’m not saying you should be having kids. You’re fully within your rights to judge the circumstances of your own life and where your kid would end up to decide if it’s right or wrong. Obviously it’d be wrong to have a kid in the freezing arctic with no hope of escape or survival for more than a few years. But you can’t say having kids is unequivocally wrong for everyone in every circumstance.
And if you truly believe life is wholly bad, that might be a symptom of depression.
Hallmark card platitudes are not a fitting replacement for philosophy.
Is it a Hallmark card platitude because it’s short or because it sounds cheery? Why can’t it be actual philosophy? Logically, there’s no way for you to earn a shot at life before you’re alive. Since it’s always given undeserved, earning it is entirely irrelevant. There’s no way to earn it, even by living perfectly. If you could earn it, you could earn a second life. I’m not talking about “oh wow, you’re such a good person” kind of earning it. Being a good person won’t earn you the throne of England either.
A good thing given undeserved is a gift.