Rights

The latest Trent HERE talks about the rights of children.

In my comment on his Patreon page I summarized some of his video musing over the origin of 'rights'.

I think what's a little confusing is that Trent talks of children's rights as if others don't have these. Many will no doubt talk of a mother's right for this or that too. So what makes a child's right paramount? When a boat is sinking we hear the boatswain demanding "women and children first" as he stands by the lifeboat holding a pistol. In turn mothers on that lifeboat would be expected to give up their seat for a child who suddenly appears. No one would question that. Imagine if someone in my imagined scenario shouted, "no, the child doesn't matter, save the woman". He'd be turned on and beaten to a pulp.

I would hope the same would apply if the unexpected late arriving child had Downs Syndrome or was a cripple.

But society doesn't act this way. If an ultra scan suggests a deformed child, abortion can be recommended. Duty of care goes out the window. I wouldn't be surprised to hear some recommend euthenaisa later even.

So why are the rights of children so important? This is not about obligations of parents, but something much bigger. A child has the same fundamental rights as everyone but theirs are greater because of their dependency. And society does look after the needy. Having cared for an infirm person for many years I know that there are many agencies in place to assist. And all that is practicable is done until "medicine" has run out of ideas, and a comfortable end is all that is available. There is no question about the rights of the infirm. They become paramount. No one ever talked to me as if my rights were greater than the person I was looking after.

I hear you say "why should a mother give up her life to look after a severely disabled child?".

The fallacy starts with the false assumption that the mother is losing something. People grow and receive much joy in caring. We all know , in our hearts, that a selfish inward looking life, is a road to misery. It's in reaching out, going out of our way, that stuff like inner peace is found. A parent who puts their own welfare before the child will never find happiness. We live in a world where it is commonly accepted that the rights of the weak come first. This is not the natural way. Survival of the strongest rules in the animal kingdom. Even in previous human ages we have seen cultures that practice infanticide; to weed out the weak or gain strength through pleasing the godswith human sacrifice. Though we have turned this around and taken the higher moral path undertones of other systems emphasizing different ideas of rightness endure.

So right comes back to what is proper. Our christio-centric morality has shaped us to see love as proper. Love one another, do good and treat others with kindnesses , avoid inflicting pain or harm. We are so engrained to act with care that it takes wifull thought to do otherwise.

Just look at the public out cry against abortion. Clinics that do this injustice have to be hidden away.  This proves that abortion is a convenience, and not a right.

Well that's my cant for today.

Have fun by not sinning.