Life...

In the grand scheme of things, each individual life is just a flash in the night; a moment of brilliance and then it's gone. It is all those individual flashes put together over the eons that light up our world. Life exists to be. It wants. It is the water flowing in a river - you never notice the individual drops as they quickly pass, just the continuum of the river's flow. It drives all of us earthlings (plant and animal) to shun death and to procreate.

I was reminded of this once again when our cat gave birth to 4 kittens. Cats (like all animals, including humans) can be selfish and self-centered. We can be indifferent and aloof. Yet once the kittens were on their way, it was as if a switch was turned. It's commonly referred to as the "maternal instinct", where the mother - who once only cared about eating, sleeping and self-satisfaction - now becomes completely focused on the health and well-being of her little ones. That is Life calling, singing a song the likes of which the Sirens could only dream.

It is that same instinct that calls animals to mate despite (as in cats) the discomfort that might be involved. Humans understand the process, but one has to ponder the thoughts of the other animals. What strange things must be occurring in their heads as the hormones take over and drive females to offer themselves up? Do they understand it's necessary? Do they feel like marionettes, with Life's chemical puppetmasters pulling at the strings?

In humans, we DO understand sex (at least - those of us old enough to have gotten a decent public school education). We know that sex leads to reproduction. We also know that sex feels good. Thus, we've concocted numerous ways to cheat Life and enjoy sex without the resultant pregnancy. Perhaps that's best, since we've also managed to cheat the Darwin principle with medical advances and tools to protect us from predators.

It is human's ability to choose when and if to procreate that makes us unique in leveling the playing field with Life. Some couples may choose to never have children; others, a lot. Some may look at the world around them and think "the time isn't right". I've heard people say they wouldn't want to bring a child into a world on the brink of an ecological meltdown, or filled with war, or even fear and loathing in the political arena. Some people don't want to create children they feel will be used as cannon fodder in an unnecessary war.

The opposite can happen as well. Newsweek wrote an article about a possible Obama Baby Boom. Everyone knows about the original baby boom, the one that occurred after the end of WWII. It wasn't just soldiers returning home from war, it was the overall sense of hope that things would get better now that the war was over.

Hope... potential... change - for the better...

These are things that can help override our cognizance of our own reproductive mechanics, and mate with a joy and fearlessness that presage a better tomorrow. I know of one couple - friends of ours - who did just that; they will be welcoming a new life into the world next summer. How many of their fellow earthlings will they share that bond with, that their conception occurred while riding a wave of hope upon the confirmation of the election of Barack Obama?

Only Life knows the answer to that one.