The Right to Play G-d

The last couple of weeks D and I have actually been conscious enough to watch movies once the kids are in bed. We watched 'Idiocracy' and 'Gattaca'. These are both futuristic movies that focus on the intelligence level man kind.

'Idiocracy' came out in January 2007 and stars Luke Wilson. It was created by Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead. Luke Wilson and co-star are cyrogenically frozen in time for 500 years due to a military experiment that went 499 years too long. The world has gone to waste, the average intillegence is about that of Beavis and Butthead and The Constitution is a thing of the past. Everything is run by corporate sponsors including the government. If you can get past the 'idiocracy' of the movie you will see that is quite intelligent. Basically it states that while all the high IQ folks quite having kids because of "intelligent" decisions, the environment, finances, etc. All the stupid people were breeding like bunnies and took over the world. It is an interesting idea and to some extent we see that here in Israel. Only it is religious vs. non-religious and guess who is having the most kids and guess who will get the most votes in 10-20 years? It is an interesting idea.

On the polar opposite is 'Gattaca.' This is an intelligent movie that sets itself in the near future. It is an all star cast, that was nominated for several awards most of them art and music. The idea is that everyone genetically creates a child by picking out the best traits of both parents. People are tracked by their DNA and are labeled Valid or In-valid. In-valids are children who are created naturally. They are society's outcasts, they live in segregated groups, can't hold a job beyond janitor and can't have a relationship except with another in-valid. This is the story of one In-valid man who buys the identity of a Valid who was injured in an accident and is now paralyzed from the waist down. They move in together and so begins the elaborate charade of one becoming the other and the threat of discovery.

These two movies have led to a lot of discussion about "the right to play G-d." All too often we here the comments "they should never have children!" or "I hope they are done!" There have even been discussions about sterilizing those who are not perceived as being capable of parenting. In other words, drug users, those with a low IQ, and so on. Who are we to decide who has the right to have children and those who do not. My closest friends came from families who would not have "made the cut."

If we were to follow to the logic of 'Idiocracy' I have a friend who would be working at a low-level job married to a moron instead of in a highly skilled profession. I know another story where if drug users were sterilized a wonderful couple, now clean and sober, would have been denied parenthood. The examples are endless and I think I made my point.

On the other hand if we go with the theory of 'Gattaca', all genetically created people should live a certain life, a certain life expectancy and so on. This is much like real life, come from a good family, do all the right things and nothing can go wrong. So how do we have kids who come from the "right" families wind up doing the wrong thing? I have a friend who was about as low as one can get, into drugs, belonged to a gang, and so on. This person came from an average middle class family, good parents and so on. What happened I asked one day? The answer, "I simply made the wrong friends." And that was all it took.

While I admit that I am just as guilty as anybody of deciding who should and should not be reproducing, I am trying to mend my ways. I have come to realize that those born of adversity often come out on top because they have the most to gain and the least to lose by striving for more. They are also used to working harder just to get through the day. Those who come from a comfortable life are sometimes afraid to reach higher and lose out on the comfort they already know. This doesn't mean that I wish every child to be born to poverty or drug abusing parents or worse. My wish would be that all children are born to good families, with plenty to eat, clothes to wear and parents who love them with all their heart. But G-d has given all people free will for a reason and that is so that they can decide whether or not they want to bring children into this world. And for those people who bring children into this world "by accident, " well G-d has a plan for this world and all who are in it. Just because we don't understand everything that happens in this world doesn't mean there isn't a reason for it. For those things we must rely on whatever we believe gets us through, be it G-d, Fate, or something else.