Lodgepole Pine

I have two friends from my parents’ generation who taught their children that having more than two kids per family was irresponsible. They were well-educated and well informed, and believed two children would replace themselves and maintain the status quo. They’d bought into the 60’s propaganda about overpopulation. They believed they were doing the right thing by only having two children. One of those kids grew up, got married, and had two children. The other never married. Their two grandchildren are now grown. They have no intention of starting families. I’m sad for my friends with only two grandkids and no great-grandchildren. But when I see this not as an anomaly but a growing trend, I begin to grow alarmed. As individuals and as a society, we rely on the next generation to support and protect us in our old age. Childlessness and singlehood may look like freedom when you’re young, but eventually they’ll become loneliness and poverty.