Posted by Tania Kindersley.
The reason you only see Sarah making occasional appearances on this blog is that she is very busy writing for The Times. My job is supposed to be putting up links to her pieces so you can all enjoy them. As you may have noticed, I am fabulously useless at this, and have had to give myself a stiff talking to. My most abject apologies.
Anyway, here is her thought for the day. I promise there will be many more from now on.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6715420.ece
I think Sarah's piece was beautifully written and brought up some excellent points that I never would have considered. At the end of the day we as women should have the right to choose. If Maria had a sane mind, a welcoming home, a loving heart and a generous spirit, age shouldn't matter. When parents die in an accident, often children are left to their grandparents and flourish. I see nothing wrong with this woman's pursuit of a dream to have children and to give them a chance at a wonderful life. As Sarah points out, there are people who have children that and are abusive to them, or take for granted the gift of giving life. Teen pregnancy is rampant and again, these girls don't understand how precious being able to have a child is. Maria DID, and knew the implications of her actions. She did NOT plan to die in her 60's and could have lived to see her babies until adulthood. Should she have lied, no. But the question is, should society have made her fib.
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oneof365
Great article...and clearly an issue of conflict. All I think of is those little babies...and the mother's death was beyond her control.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the great things about blogs. Giving you another point of view to think about. I have to admit on first hearing of this story, even before her sad death, I thought the mother selfish and irresponsible and in many ways I still do. However, as Sarah rightly points out, there are other women in the world having children and less able to care for them and no-one condemns them (rightly or wrongly), yet the moment a woman's age becomes more pertinent, it seems we have the right to vilify. Frankly I hadn't thought about society's peculiar schizophrenic stances towards both able and unable families and mothers and who 'should' be having children and it's good to have differing views on these issues.
ReplyDeleteI do look out for Sarah's columns but I missed this one so thanks for posting.