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From the Straight Dope boards, (Sam Stone writes)"Something to think about - you are the product of a genetic line tracing back millions of years. If you don't have children, your particular genetic line dies out - with you."
And my response:
It's true that all of us today are products of a long, long line of people who all survived to reproduce at least once-- yet those of us who don't bear children today are not the first generation ever to do so. Of course, a huge number of those who left no descendants are those who died in infancy or childhood. Still, a smaller number of people grew to adulthood, and either died before becoming parents, or chose a life path that didn't include such a possibility, such as religious celibacy or a career that took up most of their time. Despite not leaving direct descendants, the childless of ages past have left a huge intellectual and spiritual legacy for us.
I could consider myself as the last of a line-- I'm an only child, and on my mother's side an only grandchild (my father's brother has one child and no hope of more). And I'll never have children of my body. Yet if I go back even a hundred years, I have more third and fourth cousins than I can even hope to count-- that hardly sounds like "dying out" to me!
A hundred years from now, no one will find my name among their ancestors. My own little stream will evaporate, and never trickle its way to another and another, and back to the ocean-- but I'm content nevertheless, simply to be part of the rain.
And my response:
It's true that all of us today are products of a long, long line of people who all survived to reproduce at least once-- yet those of us who don't bear children today are not the first generation ever to do so. Of course, a huge number of those who left no descendants are those who died in infancy or childhood. Still, a smaller number of people grew to adulthood, and either died before becoming parents, or chose a life path that didn't include such a possibility, such as religious celibacy or a career that took up most of their time. Despite not leaving direct descendants, the childless of ages past have left a huge intellectual and spiritual legacy for us.
I could consider myself as the last of a line-- I'm an only child, and on my mother's side an only grandchild (my father's brother has one child and no hope of more). And I'll never have children of my body. Yet if I go back even a hundred years, I have more third and fourth cousins than I can even hope to count-- that hardly sounds like "dying out" to me!
A hundred years from now, no one will find my name among their ancestors. My own little stream will evaporate, and never trickle its way to another and another, and back to the ocean-- but I'm content nevertheless, simply to be part of the rain.
