“And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it”
Years and years ago, before I was old enough to understand just what my mother was talking about, I remember hearing her tell me about an "overpopulation movement". Something about people who were very upset when other people had a lot of children.
She told a story now and then of going in for the delivery of her 6th child, and realizing the doctor on call was one who had informed her on her 2nd or 3rd child that is was not "responsible" to have too many children.
I remember her saying that she was afraid that doctor would hurt her, or hurt her baby, as he would certainly think that #6 was beyond irresponsibility.
My mother made a conscious decision to have many children. Ten to be exact. In truth, she always lamented that she never got to number 12.
There were many slim years, many hand me downs, almost all home cooked meals with never a penny to spare for restaurant food.
There were the years when (with 8 children) my parents decided to further my father's schooling. He spent the next 5 years (and two more children) in Chiropractic college, unassisted by "financial aid", getting up in the wee hours of the morning to run a janitorial business, and studying late into the night.
There was no "demand on society" to raise these children, to feed, or to clothe these children. There was simply hard work, much prayer and dedication.
And now - There are 10 productive adults, all with families of our own. For each of our families, there are trials, decisions, sizes and unique family patterns. We are certainly not all the same.
And our parents never told us "go and do this JUST like we did it". And I am glad! I'm pretty sure Bob and I could not have made it to #10.
We do surely love our eight though. The last two were a wonderful surprise, perhaps even a "tender mercy". I look at them and wonder how I would have ever survived without them.
For now, they are the icing on my cake.
And by having eight, we have created our own pattern of trials, of dedication, of placing no demands on society, but of hard work, of faith, and of prayer.
In a recent conference address by Elder Neil L. Anderson,
this statement was made:
I could only think of the many sacrifices that have come with parenting, and how I would not trade my children for anything.
I thought of my mother, telling me how nervous she was to have baby #6, knowing of the Doctor's opinion on having too many children. And her stubborn determination to try for 12.
Tonight, I came across an article in the news.
I had heard a brief clip about it twice today, but took a minute to read it tonight and was astonished. It said:
More importantly, the serious reality is underpopulation. Most of the developed countries of the world, particularly European countries, are experiencing depopulation.
“We need to turn out the lights at the U.N. population fund and put that money into productive uses,” said Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute (Washington), at a satellite news conference in Moscow last week linking Moscow, London and Washington.
Mosher pointed out that the U.N. Population Fund was set up in 1968 “at the height of the hysteria over overpopulation.”
This must have been what my mother was talking about, all those years ago. I must have been very young, but remember her words, and the sound of her fear.
This article goes on to state: “It is important to impact the values. It is only through values that is the salvation for humankind,” said Beloborodov. “We need to demand from international institutions, including the United Nations, a family-oriented policy to be pursued. It is only through this we can prevent genuine depopulation.”
As I read this I can only think - but I always knew, because my mother (and father) taught me. I did not doubt. For the lessons from my parents on faith, on dedication, on sacrifice, and on self reliance - I will owe an eternal debt of gratitude.
