There Shall Be Neither Birth Nor Death (Part 2/2)
In the western world today, we, like the people of Delos, have a problem with hubris. However, we also share Delos’s most pernicious problem that contributed to its downfall: the western world, particularly America, has sought to totally eradicate death and birth. We have sought to eradicate death primarily in two ways.
First, over the last fifty years, we in America have made it common practice to round up the elderly and place them, en masse, in nursing homes and in assisted living communities. Often, I believe, this was done with good intentions. Perhaps we don’t have the resources – financially or otherwise – to care for our aging parents and grandparents by ourselves, so we figure they’ll be better cared for in the nursing home. The problem with this, however, is twofold. For starters, when we distance ourselves from the elderly like this, we miss out on their wisdom. We miss out on hearing their life story, their lessons, and their moral teachings. How can a granddaughter learn much from her grandfather when she sees him only three times a year in his small room at the facility? Secondly, by shipping the elderly off to be cared for by others, we distance ourselves from the reality of aging and we ourselves never learn how to age gracefully and with humility. We also don’t fully realize - or have to reckon with - the reality of old age; and then we’re surprised when we ourselves age and can’t remember things as quickly as we once could or move as quickly as we once did. We also aren’t faced with the reality of death. If we weren’t that close to the grandparent or the aunt or uncle who dies, we probably get a call informing us of the death. Subsequently, their body is cremated, and we attend a funeral or memorial service a week or two later. No longer do we even have so much as an open casket to remind us of where we all are headed. The harsh reality is that in 21st century America, we have decided it’s best to round up our elders, place them in a facility, visit sparingly, let them die, burn their bodies, and then attend a funeral service, followed by a drink to celebrate the deceased’s life. This odd process totally sanitizes aging and death – out of sight, out of mind. We, like the people of Delos, have shipped our elders to a nearby island to let them die.
The second, though similar, way that we in the west have sought to eradicate death is a little less common, but just as pernicious, and that is through euthanasia. Euthanasia, thank God, is not quite as popular in the US as it is in Europe, at least not yet. Euthanasia is the process of killing oneself, typically because one is terminally ill, or, increasingly, because someone simply no longer has the will to live. You might be thinking that there is a contradiction here: “How can you argue that we are eradicating death by killing ourselves?” Of course, that’s the irony. Typically, one chooses euthanasia because they do not want to suffer; they do not wish to carry that cross and they do not wish to face the painful reality of dying. Instead, they want to go to the doctor, get a shot, and be done with it – a nice, clean, sanitized procedure. However, by getting this painless injection, we try to eradicate the reality of death and suffering. What harm is there in that you might ask? Well, Christ suffered. And you can’t have the glories of the resurrection without the pain and suffering of the crucifixion. Neither can we have the glory of the Beatific vision without suffering and death. By killing ourselves through euthanasia, we miss out on the opportunity to be sanctified through suffering, and we sanitize death by making it akin to going to the doctor for a routine check-up. Like the people on the island of Delos, we wish to avoid death at all cost; and when it does rear its pesky head, we simply send ourselves and our loved ones to a clinic, to be killed by a “doctor,” all in the name of “dignity.”
When a society distances itself from the reality of death as we have, it is easy to fall into the erroneous view that we shall simply never die. When there is no death, there is no reason to replenish society, and thus no need to have children. It is not surprising, then, to find that the western world at large has sought to eradicate birth, and it seems to be indisputable that it has. Virtually no country in the west, except for one or two, has had birth rates at replacement level in many years. There are perhaps dozens of ways that we have sought to avoid or eradicate birth in this country; however, I’ll narrow it down to two. The first, believe it or not, is through abortion. Conservative estimates are that nearly fifty million human beings, in the United States alone, have been killed in the womb since 1973. 50 MILLION. We have killed about one-seventh of our population, and that’s by conservative estimates. To paraphrase the great Dr. Peter Kreeft, we have inverted the words of Christ who said “this is my body, which shall be given up for you.” Abortion proponents yell “this is my body” and use it as justification to destroy the body of another.
The second way that we have sought to eradicate birth is perhaps slightly more discreet, and that is through careerism and materialism. It is becoming increasingly rare for a young couple to graduate high school or college and get married shortly thereafter. Perhaps there are several reasons for this, but in large part, I believe this is because young men and women are told to prioritize their careers. At my own college, a supposedly elite school, a young woman would be looked oddly upon if she said in class she did not want to work, but wanted to get married and raise children instead. Why get married when you could bill 2300 hours a year at a big law firm or be a consultant at McKinsey? Thus, young college grads leave school, move to New York or Chicago, and devote their twenties and early thirties to their jobs. This is not meant to belittle lawyers or consultants (though some in those professions should be belittled), but one’s career and professional life should ideally be at the service of a greater vocation, which is marriage and family life. Instead, we have turned our careers and our bank accounts into our gods. We become fully engulfed in these professions, and then wake up when we’re 34, unmarried, alone, and childless, and wonder where the time has gone. We may have a nice career and some extra money in the bank, but we have nobody to spend it on. Indeed, we have sacrificed a family on the altar of corporatism.
On the ancient island of Delos, the inhabitants eradicated death and birth; these were not to be on the island which was so blessed by the gods. They did not plan for the future, and got away with it for a while…until an adversary invaded the island and destroyed nearly everyone and everything in just a matter of days. Like in any classic Greek tragedy, their hubris was their downfall. In the west today, we too seek to eradicate death and birth. Let’s pray that we, unlike the people of Delos, correct our ways, lest the mighty fall once again.
Liam
10/12/24
