Wednesday, October 29, 2008
are they wrong?
When talking about the Inuits on Monday, I started to think about my friend Katie. She is a teen mother and had tossed around the thought of an abortion. She was devastated when she heard the news considering the father of her baby was her best friend's boyfriend. Oops! It was a really hard decision she had to make. Which is the right thing to do? What is going to make her happy in the long run? Can she handle this on her own? How will it effect her life from now on. She thought long and hard and ended up keeping her baby. She is a beautiful little girl named Madalyn. She is perfectly healthy and Katie loves her dearly. She doesn't know what her life would be like without Madalyn now. Was it the right choice considering she was only sixteen years old? I think so. However, the main difference is that in Katie's situation, she has a nice home, not moving around, shes stable and had the funds from her family to care for her baby. The Eskimos, or Inuits, are nomadic and cant always provide for their young. Is that to say that it is right or that one can understand why they resort to infanticide when the parents cannot find a caretaker? Maybe, maybe not. I personally cant wrap my head around the killing of an innocent child, but i can relate to their needs. There have been times in my life when things were tough and it was hard for my parents to provide food and we were without a familiar, comforting home while my house was being rebuilt after a fire in 2000. You sometimes have to fall back on someone for help but if they can't help, you have to do whatever is best for the whole family, or in this case, the Inuit clans. Most people are pro life these days, i think. But can you see how they aren't doing it out of pleasure, it's the only way the rest of the family can survive. What do you all think?
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6 comments:
I really like your post! I was thinking about all of these things while we were watching that video in class the other day. I, too, could never imagine killing a child, but for the Inuits, perhaps it really is their best option. You have to consider the harsh life that is the alternative to death. Perhaps it's almost better for them, as depressing and horrible as that sounds, to die so young rather than having to live through turmoil. I don't know ... it really is hard for me to even conclude what my stance on the subject is. I don't like the idea of killing children, but I also don't like the idea of them suffering through life. I'll stop now that I am good and depressed.
I disagree, I feel like way more people are pro-choice than pro-life. It's the 21st century, we're trying to progress rights. The only place that I have encountered people who are completely closed off to abortion is in South Carolina. Keep in mind they were also crazed baptists. Just because I'm pro-choice doesn't mean I'm anti-babies or anti-life. I could never do what the inuits do but that's because I've been conditioned in today's modern society. If i was in an indigenous tribe with much less resources and technology I'm sure I could rationalize their choice. People do what they have to to survive; it's instinct.
No she's right, I believe a majority of America could still be considered as pro-life, though many of those people don't show up on the mass media (i.e. tiny little towns, southern influenced or IN the south.)
Either way, I think in terms of the post it's a wonderful thing when new life can be brought into this world under the pretenses of a loving family and the funds to take care of the child sufficiently. Under this perspective I can understand why the Inuits may uphold traditions as discussed. I'm sure they don't enjoy sacrificing a child for "the good of the clan".
It's an opinion, I don't know statistics or Inuits.
thanks guys for commenting on my post. I wish i had the chance to talk to these other tribes and cultures to find out how they feel about having to kill their child that they carried for nine months. Is it depressing when a little baby girl is born and they know the outcome of that child if no one else can care for her?! do they have an opinion? Maybe they are so used it the situation, they are just numb to it. I guess for us it's hard to imagine because for most, we able to feed and house many kids and we aren't relying on only the male race to uphold our family. Look how many single moms there are that are doing amazing jobs at raising their families..not to say that single dad's cant do the same. I do believe in having their own choice, but if you can care for the child why kill it. For those who are inpregnated but means of rape or other inethical ways, they of course can chose to do as they please. But if you are just being foolish and messing around, find out you are pregnant and then get an abortion, and then just got at it again...thats seems wrong. So back on subject. If this is what the Inuits MUST DO in order to survive then so be it. Who am i to stop them, it's been their way of life for so long. why should they change if it's working for them.
I fully agree with Ashley's last statement, "If this is what the Inuits MUST DO in order to survive then so be it. Who am I to stop them, it's been their way of life for so long."
If saving a few kills more in the long run, then who am I to make them change? Wouldn't I be a killer then too?
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