Don’t Get Distracted

Don't get distracted: the birth of a baby is just an aside.

The true gravitas is the solemnity of what's really being born--the family. The family is the pinnacle of mammalian evolution, as well as the celebration of societal foundation.

The family supersedes the mother, the father or other partner, and the newborn. Like the Trinity, it is an entity all itself--special and divine. When a parenting partner is absent the creation of the family, the birth is merely mammalian. When present, they are the necessary element for kindling the humankind journey.

The happiest day of one's life is a cliché, but the birth of a family is a miracle. And it can even get better and better with subsequent births. The birth is the mechanical part; raising a child is the human part, and that is the commitment imbued within family. I can visit a children's playground and cannot tell which children were born naturally, which were C-sections, which have a mother and a father, which have two mothers--or two fathers, which were breastfed, or which were wanted.

But I can tell which ones are being raised. Is a he necessary?

A father is necessary for the birth, but he isn't necessarily needed to make a family. That may have been necessary in the days of hunting/gathering, but today's family encompasses many versions of parenting. The beauty of parenting, however, isn't limited by the constraints of any mandated structure, but all of its possibilities are underscored by the beauty of childhood. And humans are blessed with a particularly long one.