Procreation, Shmocreation

Before I get into this latest rant, I'd like to preface it by saying that I like children. Well, that is, I like certain children. These of course are the offspring of my closest friends and family, and their pictures are plastered across my refrigerator, held in place by various magnets of sometimes inappropriate sentiments. The point is, I am not a hater of children, nor am I a hater of those who choose to have them. I get it. Continuity is imperative to the survival of the species.
However, speaking as a single woman of a certain age who does not have children and doesn't really want them, I am treated, by some, as an oddity of sideshow proportions.

What's the big deal? The way people (especially mothers)look at me when I say that I don't want children is the way I imagine they would look at me if I announced I thought Hitler "was just misunderstood." I mean, really, the look of utter shock and disbelief is almost comical. People are really appalled by it. Suddenly it's about how I "haven't met the right man," or I'll "feel differently one day." No, I'm pretty sure this is it. I'm fairly certain (by fairly certain I mean absolutely positive) I don't, under any circumstances nor with anyone, want to breed. End of story.

So, I ask you, why does my refusal to proliferate mean I am selfish or some kind of second class citizen? How does knowing that maybe being a mother isn't the role for me prove that I am self-absorbed? Self-aware is more accurate. I am good with kids and I love the children in the my life. So why isn't that enough? And why do people act like my life as a single person with no children is less important that theirs? If I were on a sinking ship and they called out "women and children first," would that guarantee me a spot in the lifeboat since, according to some, my life is an abomination in the eyes of Mother Nature?

If I cured Cancer, would that make me important? If I won the Nobel Peace Prize (and hey, they give those to just about anybody these days) would that get people to stop acting so damn condescending? Not everyone should have children. In fact, a lot of people who already have children shouldn't be parents. Being a mother or father doesn't automatically make you a good person or an interesting person or a person of character or substance. You have to be those things already, sans children.

I know it's hard for some to believe, but you can actually live a happy and fulfilled life without having children or getting married. I know, I know, the gasp heard 'round the world, but let us not forget the abundance of important women in history who made huge and great contributions to our world who were both unmarried AND childless: Susan B Anthony, Gertrude Bell, Jane Austen, Elizabeth I of England, The Bronte Sisters, Florence Nightingale and long list of others that I won't bore you with. I almost mentioned Gloria Steinem but then that makes me look like a man hating feminist, and that has become a dirty word as of late, mostly because people are ignorant of its actual meaning, but that is another diatribe for another day.

At any rate, should I end up shriveled and alone, dead at the bottom of my staircase, face eaten by cats, I'm sure mothers of the world will cry out in unity, "told ya so."