I sat wondering as the car rolled through the streets of Chestnut Hill rumbling towards Frank’s Towing Company, why in the world are young couples choosing to get dogs instead of children?
The answer seemed to be staring me in the face.
The afternoon of February 16, 2022 jaunted along calmly as the rays of the afternoon sun
began to sink in the sky. Everything was going well and life was resuming a calm normality. But then as I strolled into the parking lot, my face flushed in a moment of panic as my mother’s repeated reminders rolled through my mind, “Julia, don’t park the car there for too long, it needs to go back to the garage when you’re not using it.” But I had never gotten towed before, so what would be the difference today?
Well, I finally learned the lesson of the dreaded TOW ZONE and can assure you that I will no longer be parking in that particular parking lot on Commonwealth Avenue anymore.
But it certainly got me thinking. What makes children worthwhile, especially with all their crabbing, crying, and constant demands? As I have watched a number of my cousins, family friends, and most especially my parents raise their families, I have been given the insight that kids certainly are no cake walk.
Having observed the countless instances of patience and sacrifice my parents have exemplified throughout the years, I have truly come to believe that children are one of God’s greatest gifts of sanctification. In other words: they are really, really hard. So when couples are faced with the choice of a little human being that demands everything of them or a fluffy little fur ball that is happy with food and the occasional pet, it certainly seems like a no brainer to choose the dog.
There are so many uncertainties and sacrifices required of couples who are contemplating starting a family that I can understand why getting a puppy is the simpler and safer option. You don’t have to be afraid that your puppy will go out and crash the car, about the friends it makes, or what school to send it to. It spends a few months in training as a puppy; then, you have a built-in best friend that does not talk back and that is always happy to see you for the rest of its life.
Conversely, from the very start children are needy and selfish, they develop their own selfish desires and wants that constantly have to be corrected. Raising children is the corresponding reality to the concept of delayed gratification. They often take more than they could ever hope to repay, constantly causing their parents frustration and irritation. But then, one day they begin to see the sacrifices that have been made for them and the beauty of the souls that have dedicated their lives to their success. It is love that has allowed them to grow.
In many ways, I have found that the parents themselves are the ones filled with uncertainty searching for something to fill a void, something that will love them unconditionally. So to see a child that often does not repay the love that is given to them is likely repelling to a young couple so desperate for love. It is this lack of understanding of love in the couples themselves that predisposes them to the desire for puppy-love love rather than pure love. It is a disorder longing for God’s love that obscures the mind into thinking that puppy love is the truest form of love. In fact, it is the opposite: true love does not rest in utter adoration of the other, rather, it rests in sacrifice. A couple does not have the ability to give what it does not have.
So, I believe that the modern couple’s affinity to dogs and aversion to children rests not in an abundance of selfishness, but rather in an unfilled longing for love in their own lives. Therefore, I must ask a favor of you: when you see the young men and women strolling with their dogs swaddled in baby carriages, offer a little prayer for them. Pray that they may learn to know and experience God’s love in their life– that they might know the joy of learning to love another little human being, because although the world may seem to be going to the dogs, there is still hope that nothing is impossible for God.
Featured Image Courtesy of Sébastien GARNIER via Flickr
Julia Danehy is a Sophomore in the William F. Connell School of Nursing a hop, skip, and a jump away from her home town of Fort Myers, FL. With the variety of her interests spanning about a million miles long, in her spare time she can be found exploring history, painting, spending time outdoors, whipping up some form of baked good, or reading anything to do with The Theology of the Body/philosophy in general.
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