The Dilemma in the Enigma

Verily, life is full of the pleasure and the
agony of surprises, and one certain way to
have one's fill of both is parenthood. What
greater aspiration could conceivably rest in
any loving man and woman's future than to
bring children into this fascinating of all
possible worlds. Those that are fecund have
no problem with the issue. And those who
struggle, do so mightily using all possible
means at their disposal, for what other purpose
do fertility clinics have but to ensure that those
who desire children do indeed have them? And
in the having know the heights of bliss and
the depths of bleak despair. Bright, lovingly
dependent inquisitive children will always
be the pride of their parents' existence, and
those parents want little from life beyond
the assurance of their children's happiness.
Even if it costs them their own. The puzzles
of parenthood are many and take their start
in the sacrifices made for one's own ending
with the agony of not knowing what might
have gone wrong. The devilish details of
childhood insolence, adolescent spurts of
independence and the stalking mischief of
alcohol, drugs and partying are what we know
as 'normal' acting-out behaviours familiar
enough to be set aside in shock value for the
offspring whose insistence they were assigned
the wrong gender demands rectification. It
it beyond strange that society now augmented
by expert professionalism in psychiatry and
human behaviour genuflect in defence of
sacred human rights entitlements all too
oddly leading to self-mutilation and suicide.