Bundles of... Misery.

In my inbox there appeared an email from SG with the subject 'And proof that I'm right' which just screams for me to read. SG and I have been arguing since day 1, not serious arguing mind, but we have been known to enjoy a good argument now and then. Which reminds me of one time in college, I was a sophomore in college and SG was over at my dorm room hanging out. At some point we were arguing over whether or not Parkersburg WV actually has anything in it. Talking about Parkersburg for me is like like throwing gas on an already raging fire, that place just sucks, it's an abomination, a hell hole, nothing good exists there, NOTHING! Satan's throne can be seen atop the town hall. My dislike for Parkersburg all begin the when SG was taking summer classes at OU. I decided to come visit her for a weekend, the only problem about OU in the summer is that no one's there and there is nothing to do. You think I'm kidding don't you? Taco Bell, THE LARGEST Taco Bell in the US (so they claim) shuts down at 3pm every day. That's 3pm, 15:00 for you military/euro wannabees. To find something to do on Saturday night we decided to drive to Parkersburg a mere 10 miles (actually about ~50 miles or so) but three fucking light years from Athens. Upon arriving at the oasis that is Parkersburg you have to pay to cross the river to enter Parkersburg. PAY! That just might be as asinine as having to pay to leave New Jersey (Another rant for another day). Once in Parkersburg we then attempted to find something to eat and something to do both of which we failed miserably. We went right instead of left and never found the main strip of what one could call life in Parkersburg and instead entered the downtown which is a dead and lifeless husk of a place. So back to this argument in College, I said there was nothing in Parkersburg, SG said that there was. This went on back and forth for an hour or so until SG had to mention that Columbus isn't technically a large city either. While I agreed with her in general it was on a technicality that felt she was wrong. My argument was that while Columbus is cow town USA with not much to do it is a large city based on population. SG wouldn't concede this point which led to us making pot shot arguments back and forth like two rivaling West Virginian families arguing over a property line. Where was I? Oh yes bundles of misery.

The email in question referred to an article in the Washington Post about a survey done with 13,000 adults. I don't know the specifics of it but what it boiled down too was that the adults with children were more miserable than those that didn't have them. The article mentioned how in Western culture children are more of a burden instead of an asset (Soccer lessons, baby gap, SUV sized strollers, Mini-vans, Barney, tutors, etc, etc). A hundred years ago when people had children those children would have helped out around the house, worked in the fields, watched the younger children. Today's parents generally don't even have the support of their families to help out with raising their children which leaves parents agitated and overworked. The best part of the article was when it mentioned an email titled "Mom's Letter to Santa":

The mom is hiding in the laundry room using a crayon to write her wish list on the back of a receipt while the laundry is between cycles: She wants a car with fingerprint-resistant windows, a radio that plays only adult music, a television that won't broadcast programs with talking animals and a place where she can talk on the phone in peace.

This is almost word for word SG's argument against children. Sadly my only argument for having one is that soon everyone I know will be DEAD and maybe my child won't hate me and maybe just maybe they might invite me over for the holidays. When you write it like that I do sound silly. In my mind this study isn't all that surprising, I mean believing that raising children is going an enjoying game of bocci ball is just a joke. It's kind of like thinking that if you have issues with your significant other while dating that when you get married they will just disappear in a big puff of fairy dust and the warm glow of marriage will engulf you in bliss. Right. Maybe this is all part of my personality, ESTJ, the thinking part to be exact. I don't actually think that having children will be wonderful all the time, actually the first few years sound dreadful but maybe that's just a coping mechanism. So gear up breeders and let the pain begin, and let me leave you with one of SFB's favorite sayings, "If it doesn't hurt it's not worth doing."