A couple of weeks ago I listened with amazement and disbelief to a radio phone in show. I thought at first, that the caller was putting us on. He went on and on.
The caller was male. He was clearly a young professional - calm, rational, well educated and certainly articulate. He lived in an expensive suburb of a major city. With him, on his end of the line, was his same-sex partner who clearly supported his position.
The young man was circulating a petition in his exclusive community and was soliciting as much support as possible. His position was as follows:
"Our community is very exclusive. It is inhabited primarily by adult professionals. We are a very open and accepting group. We have any number of singles as well as many couples - some heterosexual, some same sex, some common law and some in a traditional marriage relationship.
"We all have very stressful jobs. We have a long and stressful commute every day into the city and back home again. We all make a very significant contribution to the overall prosperity and the tax base of our country. Virtually all of us have made a conscious decision to not have children.
"We all come home each day very tired. We deserve to be able to sit down and relax without all the noise and commotion that comes with children. Not only that, but there should be an eating place available without children yelling and running around. Having too many children around would also tend to lower our property values.
"Thus we need a by-law that would exclude families with children."
This is an attitude that is gaining momentum in our society. Our social order is not prolific enough right now to replace itself on the face of the earth. Children tend to be a nuisance. Children do make noise and cause commotion. We are all tempted sometimes to say 'enough already.' But if they are quiet too long we begin to worry there must be something wrong.
We must always remind ourselves that the sound of children is the sound of life itself. Without children none of it makes any sense at all.
Doug & Marlene Cowling, Yorkton, SK.
