I do not understand how anyone would bring a child into this sad and exhausted world. Some people have to have it all, when no one can have it all. The house. The cars. The kids. The job. The credit cards. Food. Food. Food. And school. And school times twenty. And school with its rituals. And church with its rituals. Why are we raising children in an indifferent society. Because the haves and the have nots have been fighting it out over equity for the last 150,000 years. In case you haven’t heard: the planet is burning. Cultures are facing famine. Is this where I’m supposed to talk about war. People talk to me about progress in science. And. There is no and. Where is the human progress. How do children fit into the economic picture. File bankruptcy before you have sex. I had no idea the baby needed all that stuff. Relatives would give me that look: Where’s your stuff. What stuff. The pressure was on. I know that pressure. I know it intimately. Women are baby machines, and so are men. Everything in your life takes a walk. I moved us into a five star hotel. They had stuff. I didn’t have to buy a thing. But my life, and my kid’s life, is utterly different. I do not get women. I do not understand them. I profoundly don’t understand why they are only fulfilled if they have babies. Is that a crime to articulate. I loathe babies and children. I worked with disabled children for fifty years. At 5pm I could go home. Is that a crime to articulate. Ross Douthat loves children. I do not.