Epiphany on a Sunday

So I went to church last Sunday. Pause. Is that you choking? I'll give you a moment.

As I was saying, I went to church last Sunday, joining the great tranny priestess Paulie and friends. Breathe deeply, it'll pass. It was timely, too; the message was about managing finances. Even the Bible has a lot to say about the recession, why people end up living on $1 a day, and how to do something about it.

The pastor started giving out statistics. Apparently, Filipinos don't save. We live in the now, and have nothing for retirement; we are suckers for a sale because we're brainwashed consumerists.

She had a point. Then again, maybe the reason Filipinos don't really save for retirement is due to the fact that we don't really expect to live that long. And if we do live that long, isn't that what lining up at SSS for your monthly dole-out is for?

I thought about it for a while, and realized - we do save. We do invest. It's just that our idea of investment is not saving. It's having children.

I can't go for a couple of days without someone asking "when are you having a baby?"Everyone is concerned for my future investment. Thank you for caring.

This is our formula for happily ever after: we give birth to it. We give birth to future nurses who will send home dollars and keep us happy. We give birth to future gay children who will never be able to get married - therefore cannot leave the fold and therefore are expected to spend their money for the family (I've met quite a few mothers who actually want their children to be gay for this very reason). It's the farmer's mentality: have more children to help you sow the crops and run the farm. It's stupid, it's selfish, and it's so unfair.

Of course we all deny it. People have so many reasons for having children.

"I don't want to be lonely in my old age."

"I have good genes and don't want to waste it."

"The condom broke."

"Having a child is sooooo fulfilling."

We don't give birth to children for the fun of it. At least, I don't believe that's the whole reason. At the end of the day, I think the super-secret, deeply-buried-in-the-subconscious reason we pressure ourselves to procreate is because we want to know we'll be taken care of when we're old and can't fend for ourselves.We give birth and wait for the return on investment.

Just last week, someone told me I "owed it to the world" to have children. Yes, she has a child. I guess she's set for life.