Dr. Val FarmerDr.Val
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Rural Mental Health & Family Relationships

Children And The Global War On Terror

July 9, 2007

This summer we have the opportunity to host my third daughter, Tassa, and her four children in our home. Their ages range from 10 years old to 18 months. They are in transition while they are attempting to sell a home in central California and relocate to Crescent City, CA where our son-in-law, Geoff, will be working as a high school principal this fall.

We also live in close proximity (seven miles) to our son, Tyler, and daughter-in-law, April, and their one year old son. We have had other great opportunities in the past 2 years to be around the rest of our 16 grandchildren.

I have nothing but admiration for the amount of love, dedication and hard work that goes into raising young children. These young mothers make so many sacrifices - willingly and cheerfully - while curtailing their personal ambitions and needs. The amount of work, attention and devotion that children require is staggering.

Looking back I don’t remember the volumes of work it required to raise our seven children - though my wife, Darlene, does. I marvel that we did this, rather unconsciously, as the situation required it. Having four children buzzing around our house right now seems like a big family to me.

Being an active grandparent to four grandchildren underfoot and having another visit regularly requires a lot of love, energy and commitment. We love it, enjoy it and are doing a ton of grandparent activities with them.

Children and the future. I recently read, "America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It," by Mark Steyn. The book looks at the impact of declining birth rates in western developed and developing nations in relation to the influx of Muslim immigration and burgeoning of Muslim birthrates worldwide.

Steyn examines the religious basis for radical jihadism and how helpless moderate Muslims are to stand up and rein in the destructive and murderous ideology of their more extreme co-religionists. He shows how western European nations are being intimidated politically by Muslim extremists within their borders.

Steyn further describes how multiculturalism, cultural relativism, self-absorption, narcissism and welfare state economies are factors for lower birthrates and a lack of steely resolve against the emerging threat. It takes optimism, dedication and sacrifice to bring children into this world and to nurture them properly.

As Americans, we also value and benefit from the assimilation of immigrants into our national culture, ideals and identity. We enjoy a vibrant capitalistic economy, liberal pluralist democratic institutions and have a strong commitment to defend our way of life. In the end, Steyn sees America standing alone or almost alone (he includes Australia and New Zealand in his small list) against the rising threat of extremist Muslim political and religious domination.

Demography and economy. When I was in graduate school in the early 70s, zero population growth was the secular religion of the day. Paul Ehrlich at Stanford got it all wrong. The biggest problem facing western

economies today is not overpopulation but that there are not enough people to sustain their growth. Back in the early seventies, who knew:

- that having a replacement birthrate was and is the key to sustainable economies?

- that the western world with all its cultural and economic advantages would choose career, lifestyle and consumption over joy in posterity?

- that high divorce rates, living together without marriage and the validation of homosexual unions would erode commitments to children and family life?

- that the West would plunge into suicidal birthrates while the Muslim world would spill over it’s boundaries and fill in Western Europe with its immigrants and large families?

The United States enjoys a 2.11 live births per woman, just at the replacement fertility rate for a stable population. Even in overcrowded places like Japan (1.32) the economy is tottering under the weight of their geriatric population and minuscule birthrates.

Russia has a birthrate of 1.14, a country with a huge land mass and a sparse population. Communism, alcoholism, health problems and a poor economy have drained the optimistic desire for children from their culture. Eastern European countries are close behind with comparable declining birthrates.

Demographers say 1.3 births per couple is the "lowest-low" fertility rate from which no human society has ever recovered. The Catholic countries of Spain (1.15), Italy (1.23) and Greece (1.3) where large families were once the norm have voted with their personal lives not to have children and their economies have suffered. The birthrates for France (1.89), Germany (1.35), Canada (1.48) and the United Kingdom (1.6) are inflated by the high birthrates of their Muslim immigrants. Some typical Muslim country birthrates are Afghanistan 6.69, Somalia 6.76, Pakistan 5.08, and Saudi Arabia 4.53.

The jihadists embedded in those nations don’t have to waste their energy in murderous attacks to achieve their objectives. All they have to do is wait a generation for migration, demography and democracy to give them their victory.

How do western democracies in developed nations preserve themselves? We need a pro-life, pro-family agenda of valuing marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, children and family values. We need to value and defend our heritage and culture.

It is difficult to do. We need to have a counter-cultural movement to counteract the corrupting influences contained in our media, affluent lifestyle and pop culture. These forces glorify wealth, self-gratification, and career achievement at the expense of forming new families. Adolescent self-absorption extends well into the 30s.

Many young people today engage in premarital sex strictly for pleasure, live together without commitment, choose not to marry; or if they do marry, delay having children, or decide not to be parents at all. By doing so, they miss out on the real joy and meaning of life.

A strong country depends on strong families. Our children are truly our future.