Yes, it’s not my baby, but someone else’s baby is going to grow up to be my child’s schoolmate, or best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, the mother (or father) of his children. Someone else’s baby is going to grow up to be the policemen, firefighter, doctor, nurse or teacher of the future. Someone else’s baby may grow up to be the man or woman who sits, faced with the decision on whether or not to wage war on another nation. My son may be that man one day. Why shouldn’t you care that how I raise him now will impact the decision he makes later? When are we allowed to start caring about someone else’s baby? Why aren’t we allowed to care now?
Society has become increasingly more selfish and insular. I, Me and Mine matters more than We, Us & Ours. We have become so quick to take offense. We raise walls preemptively in defense, and to what end? What has become of our sense of community, of our care for others, including your child as much as mine?
When you tell me that you don’t care how I raise my baby, you’re telling me that you don’t care about my son and his well being. When you tell me that I shouldn’t care about anyone else’s baby or how they’re raised, you’re telling me to be more selfish and more self-centered than I want to be.
I want my son to grow up to be the man who doesn’t hesitate to stop and help you when you collapse on the sidewalk, rather than following the crowd and stepping over you. I want him to know that I’m not the only one that cares that he grows up to be that man, and I don’t want him to be the only one in a crowd who stops to help.
Next time you’re being shouted down and told you shouldn’t care, and the next time you find yourself saying aloud that you don’t care, stop and listen to that tiny little voice deep down inside telling you that not only should you care, but that you actually do care.