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Off hand, I can think of only one thing that I consider suitable to be described as miraculous. I do not believe that it is supernatural or unforeseeable. I do not believe the "hand of god" is involved (obviously). I do believe it is complicated beyond reason. I have little education in biology but I understand the concepts of getting one cell to becomes billions of cells that create a human being from scratch. And I can completely see the lines of chance brought by tens of thousands of years and hundreds of thousands generations.Nonetheless, a baby is a miracle. And I am awe struck by the chain of events that make one from start to finish.
Yesterday, the world was given another miracle. Scarlett Melody Moffitt. A long, difficult delivery. A waiting room full of people participating in the miracle in what every way they could from taking shifts in with the mother-to-be to just sitting and worrying. And that is part of the miracle. A pregnancy and birth is not a private thing. It is communal. Survival of our tribe. Basic primate instinct.
I do not, however, believe that because it is a miracle, that it means anything particularly miraculous about the individuals involved. It does not mean that making babies is a good thing. It does not mean that making babies is a bad thing. It just doesn't mean anything.
It does irrevocably change the lives of the the people involved. This, too, is neither good nor bad. It is just different. Raising a child, at least for the first few years, is a complete sacrifice of self-hood. Gone are the options to do or not do. Gone are the childhood reasoning and reasons of "don't want to" and "too tried" and "too sick" and all other abdications of responsibility. And that, too, is a transformational miracle.
So here is to the new life. Here is to the passing of the guard to a new generation that will face difficult challenges. Here is to the future generations that will have to deal with very survival of our species. A new set of challenges, a new round of self-hood sacrifice.
Here is to the miraculous.
Yesterday, the world was given another miracle. Scarlett Melody Moffitt. A long, difficult delivery. A waiting room full of people participating in the miracle in what every way they could from taking shifts in with the mother-to-be to just sitting and worrying. And that is part of the miracle. A pregnancy and birth is not a private thing. It is communal. Survival of our tribe. Basic primate instinct.
I do not, however, believe that because it is a miracle, that it means anything particularly miraculous about the individuals involved. It does not mean that making babies is a good thing. It does not mean that making babies is a bad thing. It just doesn't mean anything.
It does irrevocably change the lives of the the people involved. This, too, is neither good nor bad. It is just different. Raising a child, at least for the first few years, is a complete sacrifice of self-hood. Gone are the options to do or not do. Gone are the childhood reasoning and reasons of "don't want to" and "too tried" and "too sick" and all other abdications of responsibility. And that, too, is a transformational miracle.
So here is to the new life. Here is to the passing of the guard to a new generation that will face difficult challenges. Here is to the future generations that will have to deal with very survival of our species. A new set of challenges, a new round of self-hood sacrifice.
Here is to the miraculous.