MDMD[6]: Fatherhood & The Absent Author

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Harrison Sherwood writes:
> This is the very observation that led me down this particular primrose
> path. In my own life, the birth of my children has been without doubt
> the most significant event in my development as a person. Marriage,
> schooling, death of parents--nothing and I mean _nothing_ can touch the
> sudden total 24/7 responsibility for another human life that becoming a
> parent entails. It is a sobering event indeed.

I'm always amazed at how parents think they need to explain to
non-parents quite how monumentally life-bending an event having
children is. We know. We have eyes, ears and a brain. Why do you think
some of us decide not to have children?

And I can state just as categorically as Harrison that the non-birth
of my children has been and always will be the most significant event
in my development as a person. Hell, children would mean never
rereading Dante or Tristram Shandy -- no, even more horrific, I would
probably never even get to reread V before 2010!


Andrew Dinn
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And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.