rabbits and the poor will take over the world one day

i am sick of talking about my eye. i am so sick of talking about me. me me me. *rolls eye, yes i can only do it for the good one* beginning to sound like a broken record. so today we are going to talk about why do poor people give birth to more children as compared to the more financially-comfortable .

i read an article in the newspaper today. well, yes, occasionally i tend to do that. read. :p anyway, this poor lady, and i mean financially deficient, although her predicament does seem to be quite wretched, rents out her daughter to other people so that they can use her to beg for money at the nearby mosque. for something like $50. ok, perhaps she can earn more by actually doing the deed with her daughter (i am not familiar with the begging business but if there is a viable business in renting someone's child for $50 to beg, the beggar must be earning more than that. simple economics. demand and supply) but perhaps that is another different study altogether. so, back to this lady. she rents out her daughter to help out in the family income because her husband earns $900 per month and it is insufficient for her family of 7. 7! which means they have 5 children.

ok, i am assuming. it could be 2 grandparents, 2 parents, and 3 children but i hardly think so because 1. the couple is not that old, which goes to reason that the man will not be the sole breadwinner if the grandparents are young enough to help contribute to their income, and 2. the wife may still be able to work for some paltry income if she had only 3 children, as opposed to 5. if one child was to hold on to one limb, there will still be one left who has nothing to grasp on to. the torso perhaps. but little kids can't reach.

which brings me to the question why does the poor generally give birth to so many children? the most popular consensus i am sure is that they are lacking in other sources of entertainment at night. i don't know, you are working your butt off to support your family 24/7, to the point that you find it difficult to even put food on the table, it should reason that you are working yourself to the bones and are sooooo tired, ever so ready to hit dreamland the millisecond before your head even hits the pillow. but noooooo, for some reason you are suddenly full of energy every night and even needs entertainment to tide you over to dawn the next morning where you will have to once again use all your body strength to toil from day to night?? hello, then perhaps you should be pulling another night shift somewhere to bring in more bacon, ya think?

i don't get it. their life is difficult, so their answer to it is to add another mouth to feed? some say that they are not as informed as the city folks. well, this lady that was in the newspaper lives in johor. not kyrgyzstan or djibouti. johor by most standard is a booming city at the moment and information is readily available, especially from the 3rd aunty and 6th por-por next door. their network is so advanced that the person who lives at the end of the street will learn of how his neighbour at the beginning of the street passed gas even before he actually smells it. ewwwwww....grossssss :D well, everybody loves a gross joke. so, really? anyone want to convince me that the poor for some strange reason suffer from severe debilitating
logic impairment when it comes to procreation but otherwise makes fit reasonable judgments day-in day-out?

ok, another reason; because they are not bothered with contraception. let us assume that they at least know that sexual interaction leads to procreation. maybe not the first time, but i am sure the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th time. so because they couldn't be bothered to pull out at the very minute (i'm sorry but this is the best method i could think of if they are not informed and have no money to buy protection, lame as it is but if anybody even bothered to practice that mentality perhaps they are already aware of the problem and trying to do something positive about it. why are the poor so fertile anyway? aren't they not having enough to eat? some people can't even have babies no matter how many million times they time their interaction precisely, using a nasa-issued stop watch even) they will rather have not enough sleep, not enough to eat, not enough to educate and not enough to give medical attention? then in which case, if protection is all that is required to solve the problem of overpopulation in poor countries, why are charities not concentrating 110% on distributing free condoms everywhere? drop them like air bombs. include them with basic immunisation. give them when you distribute food. just super glue the darn thing on. fill the world with it so that you can't walk 5 steps without stepping on a condom, male or female version. put them by the drinking wells. it can always be used as a cup if one doesn't intend to partake in some heavy action later.

someone actually said diversification. as in more offspring higher chances that one will 'strike lottery', so to speak, in the walk that is life. as the cantonese will say, 'kei see sin wui tai ah?' (when only will grow big ah) so, it is not that they are uninformed. not that they are illogical and selfish. they are in fact extremely intelligent far-planning and intuitive. to actually be willing to survive decades of misery and hardship in the off-chance that one of them may become a doctor or a minister, such is the heart of a parent? research has actually shown that it is very difficult for people to break away from their extreme status. not impossible, just more difficult. like the african-american in the ghettos. no doubt some will be lawyers and doctors but because of the lack of a good education opportunity and peer pressure, the chances are very high that many will drop out from school. that said, nothing is more motivating than poverty and i have seen and respect plenty that have manage to turn it around for themselves.

i will actually be more convinced if someone was to tell me that the dad was in his throng of passion too much to care, but seriously after the 3rd child, no sleep, no food and no rest, wouldn't your passion flicker out like a dying candle? how are they sustaining all these energy??! perhaps we should be putting hidden camera in bedrooms and tapping this unknown source of energy. can replace bio and carbon fuel!

i know there are some people who are poor but they are happy with their large family and is contented, especially in the rural area because one can always work with the hands to grow food to supplement their income. as long as they are fed and clothed, they will survive. but if you are renting out your daughter to bring in more dough, perhaps you should have stopped at no. 2?

so, despite all these theories that i normally hear, i am not convinced. they sound flimsy at best. poverty affects rationality? or perhaps poverty gives them extra super-human strength and stamina. why are they making the situation worse for themselves with no thought of tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow? why add suffering that may not be that bad to begin with if one was to exercise moderation and rationality? someone interview someone in gamibia or congo and let me know? however, when using words like irrational and uninformed, be prepared to duck.