It's Still "All About Me" James A. Davids J.D. Duke University School of Law President-Elect, Christian Legal Society Assistant Dean, Robertson School of Government, Regent University  September 8, 2006

I am the grandfather of a 15 month old boy, Alex, and recently went on vacation with Alex and his mother, Carolyn.  During that vacation I noticed that like other children of his age, Alex demands attention and becomes upset when interrupted from the things he wants to do.  When Carolyn’s attention was diverted to something else, Alex screamed until Carolyn focused her undivided attention on him.  Life for a 15 month old is “all about me.”
I thought of Alex when I was reading the article “Beyond Babies” in the September 4, 2006 issue of Newsweek.  The article starts with the scene of an Athens café, where a 37 year-old woman, Erini Petropoulo, is sipping iced cappuccinos with friends.  The topic of this all-female discussion is the ever-popular subject of relationships with men, independence, and when (if ever) to have children.  The single and child-free Ms. Petropoulo wonders whether she ever will have children.  She enjoys her work, she has close-knit friendships with similar minded women, and her sense of fulfillment does not depend upon having a child.

The Newsweek article reiterates the increasingly commonly known fact that the fertility rate of women in the industrialized world has plummeted.  Fewer children result in an ever increasing average age of the population, and a threat to the welfare state.  With fewer workers paying for increasing Social Security benefits, those remaining workers must either pay more in taxes for the elderly, benefits to the elderly must be cut, or benefits (and therefore retirement) must be delayed. 
There are, of course, similar implications for national defense.  Fewer workers mean increased competition for labor, driving up labor costs and benefits.  Can the United States, already suffering from an insufficient number of military volunteers, fulfill its future national defense manpower needs in the face of increased competition from the private sector?  Is not the return of a compulsory military draft inevitable?

Ms. Petropoulo, and Greek women of similar conviction, have little sense of their place in history.  Assuming that each generation is 20 years in length, Ms. Petropoulo has had 423 ancestors since 7,000 kindred brothers delayed the advance of 400,000 ancestors of present day Iranians at the Battle of Thermopylae.  Ms. Petropoulo has had 438 ancestors since the first discus was thrown and the first relays were run in the Ancient Olympics.  She and her childless companions have also had 418 ancestors since Socrates contemplated the best form of civil government and prompted us subsequently to do the same.  Depending upon whether Ms. Petropoulo and her cappuccino-sipping friends have siblings or relatives with children, the ancestral lines dating from Ancient Greece may soon die an ignominious death.

Families, tradition, heritage, and lineage matter.  Ms. Petropoulo is apparently an unwitting part of a rich Greek heritage.  Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (assuming she ever has a child) would be part of that heritage and would be her most long-lasting legacy. 
Some pundit many years ago described the baby-boomers as the “Me Generation.” For baby-boomers like Ms. Petropoulo and others of her persuasion, it’s still “all about me.”

757.226.4783; jdavids@regent.edu