The Child We Decided to Want

Before coming to write this post, I saw a video on my IG page where a popular influencer was talking against two couples who aborted their children because of Down syndrome, comparing those couples to Adolf Hitler and saying that the child deserves to live. Then another lady reacted to the video by saying he doesn't know what he's saying because she would have done the same knowing fully well the pain that comes with having such a kid because she's talking from experience, and that is, by the way.

At first, I didn't want to write on this theme, but then again, I thought to myself that we all have our opinions, and it should be respected. Which is why I believe that every life matters. And for this reason, I feel that parents should not get to genetically select their children's traits because even from our creator, we still have our disabilities, so how much more does someone who isn't perfect want to select a general for perfection for someone else?

And don't get what I said wrong because I'm not trying to play the role of God here. I have a more specific reason than that, which is based on the basis of how some parents choices for who they ought to have been quietly shaped how that child gets treated once they arrive exactly as nature made them.

I have watched a family closely; they have this boy who was born with a stammer, and this is not something a genetic modification might probably fix because it has been there right from when he started speaking, but how some of his family members reacted gave me a lot that I need to know about designer expectations.

Different reactions, just like I said, because humans will always be human no matter what, because some even started comparing him unfavorably to his younger sister, who didn't have that condition. And from what I have seen, this boy didn't have the courage like others because he is under a standard he never agreed to be measured against. When he speaks, we understand what he says, but just because he stammers alone could be giving those reactions, believe me, I don't trust what a designer baby would do to parental patience when such a child, inevitably, still turns out to be a disappointment to those parents in some way that even genetics can't cover, interest, personality, ambition, none of which any lab can select for.

And that right there is where the danger stands. When we talk about picking a genetic, that doesn't mean disappointment will be out of the way. It only moves it to another place. A small child that is engineered for cuteness, sharpness, height, or a particular skin type now becomes a child that is expected to fully deliver on that engineering, and I don't think such grace has been given currently to any baby who simply is expected to arrive as a special package. At the moment, love mostly has to adjust to such a kid. So in my opinion again, going for designer babies is impossible because it flips that arrangement because it is like agreeing to the terms and conditions that someone like you and I approved as a blueprint before the child could speak for themselves. Terrible I must say because our world is cruel enough, and adding another cruelty....hmmm

So right now, I will suggest that all parents should just take, accept and love the child they get now or in the future. Because going for a designer baby simply means such child will have live up to the standard and expectations that the parents have picked and that is like putting an unnecessary pressure on the innocent child.

I am not saying that parents should just blindly accept anything, no. Because there is a very big gap between going to the lab to select the genes you want in terms of skin tone, intelligence and preventing deadly diseases. One is like going for shopping in that mall, the other is medical. And we humans should clearly know the difference even if it's possible to have a designer baby.

Thank you for reading.

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