Snarky

This might be one of those blog posts that gets me into hot water however, since I am feeling a bit snarky tonight I am going to take the chance.

Today as I was flipping through US Weekly, (I know shameful but we all have our vices) I came upon an article on the Duggars. The Duggars have pretty much been flying under the radar ever since their 19th baby girl was born 14 weeks premature. It appears that they are back in the limelight. And of course Im hooked. For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the Duggard's and their 19 offspring, let me briefly fill you in.

Jim Bob (yes you read that right) and Michelle Duggar are parents to a small community of 19 offspring ranging in age from 22 to just a few months old. Each child was given a name starting with the letter J. Jerdiah, Jeremiah, Johanna, Jessa, Jackson... and so on. Their explanation for the unusual choice is that they are Christian's! They are pro-life! They asked God to bless them with as many children as He saw fit in His timing. (Words taken directly from their website). And God then gave them a reality television show on TLC so that they could share that children are a blessing from The Lord! (They use a lot of exclamation points on their website.)

I realize that I am treading on thin ice here, but I have a serious problem with their logic. God wants us to keep having more and more children simply because we can? If we all agreed with this theory, I can only imagine the incredible impact on our environment, economy and sanity. Quite honestly, I do not believe that human beings were suppose to breed to this extent. Let's look at this way, God made some of us fertile, but he also gave us brains, brains that developed birth control, and brains that understand the human body. Clearly the Duggars know how to create babies, so they probably have a vague idea how to prevent pregnancy naturally as well.

As I explore this theory further I wonder why God would want the Duggars to have nearly twenty children and then decide that another loving couple should be saddled with infertility and have none. It makes no sense. God works in mysterious ways? I don't buy it. I just don't. So perhaps Mr & Mrs. Duggar, I am a heathen. So be it.

Michelle & Jim Bob try to convey that they are a joyful, close knit, god fairing family. While I have no doubt that these masters of procreation love their litter, I do question how happy their kids could possibly be. How special could a child really feel if he were number 18? How much attention could he possibly receive from his parents? And how about kid number three? How does she feel about being forced into a role of pseudo mother at age 9?

I actually imagine Michelle with a little excel spreadsheet documenting information on each of the J's. Johanna's birthday is xyz, she prefers chocolate cake to vanilla, likes horses and needs to work on her grammar, Joseph is allergic to strawberries, has an irrational fear of bread crust and tends to wet his bed if given water past 6pm, Josh is married, loves European history and doesn't care for peanut butter, Jessa hates horses, likes math, prefers vanilla and loves baby dolls! How else could one possibly keep track of it all? How well could they actually know each of their 19 children? Even though I am positive that the pair would venomously deny it, I have a feeling that each progressive birth became more and more routine. How special can a birth actually be after you have gone through it 19 times?

Now don't get me wrong I sincerely hope that their newest child although premature, survives and lives a long healthy life, however I hope that Jim Bob & Michelle take this as a sign that enough is enough.