The True Meaning of Childfree Day (August 1)
Because we live on a finite planet, not having children has always been as complete a form of success in our reproductive lives as having children. The childfree relinquish the claim to resources that their descendants would have used, making life easier for other people and for nonhuman life, without which no one survives. We should have been celebrating the childfree all along as we do parents on their holidays.
More than ever before, however, the childfree serve their fellow people. We of the human species are clever and have arranged to live long and well, our numbers and standards of living increasing all the time. We have run up against the catastrophe of unlimited success. Overconsumption of Earth's capacity to absorb our waste gases has caused the climate crisis. Overconsumption of what gives soil vitality threatens our food supply, and overconsumption of groundwater our water supply. Overconsumption of myriad resources has cut wildlife populations sharply and continues to do so, causing the biodiversity crisis. Our civilization could fall in not too much more time.
The childfree show the way to moderating consumption of resources and possibly saving us all. They demonstrate that life can be given meaning through showing respect for all living things instead of just creating more of us.
However, the true meaning of Childfree Day does not derive from human survival. I think that human survival will follow from the true meaning of Childfree Day, but what I think doesn't matter much when it comes to the choices of any individual person but myself.
And that's the true meaning of Childfree Day. What any of us thinks doesn't matter much when it comes to anyone else's legal choices of how to live their lives. Furthermore, no one should be made to feel bad for following their heart.
Besides, if we are among those who find meaning in the ideas that god is love and god is everywhere, aren't our own hearts good places to look when we're trying to determine god's will for us?
Above are ecards for Childfree Day, which can be saved by right-clicking. Anyone can send anyone else a card on Childfree Day. Why not? Let's all celebrate! Some of the cards are to be sent to childfree people, but others are suitable for anyone.
Happy Childfree Day! Please pass along the spirit of the day.
International Childfree Day at Population Matters, the organization having Dame Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough as patrons
International Childfree Day official web site
Update (8/2022): Right before Childfree Day this year, I visited the graves of my deceased childfree relatives to thank them for living their lives, intentionally or not, without creating children. On other days, I visit the remains of ancestors in the same plot, to thank them for having children, in the process creating me. I am grateful to everyone for every reproductive outcome, for I honor the intrinsic value of life and am not such a chauvinist as to equate "life" with "human life." I wish to encourage visitation of the graves of childfree relatives and friends, especially on Childfree Day. The more people who do this, the more reassurance it will give others that whether or not we create children, we will be remembered with love after we are gone.