The Right to Party
I'm going to pose a question to you, the valued readers.
As many of you know, I ended a serious relationship in February of this year. Although it wasn't a deal breaker, one of the things that continually annoyed me was that my ex, who I've taken to calling The Mirror, was a bit of a party girl, though not to the degree that some are. (*cough* Katie *cough*) She also had several friends who had, out of wedlock, and without any planning, gotten pregnant and had children.
On several occasions, The Mirror talked to me about these friends of hers, and how tough their lives were, and such. One friend lived with her boyfriend, who was the father of her child. The boyfriend didn't have a job, and basically sat around on his ass all day, accomplishing little or nothing and bringing in no income whatsoever. This added additional stress to The Mirror's friend's life. In this particular case, The Mirror (who was living in London at the time) and one or two of her other friends were getting ready to arrange a weekend trip for this young mother up to London to hit the pubs and clubs and have a weekend off. Okay, I can get onboard with that. However, The Mirror interjected a statement to the effect of:
I have to admit, I sort of take exception to that. The way my personal philosophy works, I have the right to party, go wild, light my hair on fire, paint the town red, and the like because I am unattached, and have no children, and such. My responsibility for the last five years has been school, with the additional responsibilities of student organization leadership, showing up to my shows at the radio station every week, and showing up to work in a state that allows me to successfully complete my job.
Technically, I have the right to have all the sex I want, whether it's with a serious girlfriend in a monogamous relationship, or random flings like Lycan's. I further have the right to avoid protecting myself against the early onset of fatherhood, and any sexual partners I should choose have the right to take measures to protect themselves against the early onset of motherhood. We still run the risk of incurring said condition(s), and if we do, the responsibility of parenthood then completely negates our so-called "right" to act young and be crazy and irresponsible.
I know for a fact that the Dark Horse Sandal Man, a few weeks ago when we were out at a local meat market, expressed extreme distaste at some female he'd encountered at a bar who had a kid, but was out looking to score on a regular basis. I tend to agree with him. I can acknowledge that people should probably be able to enjoy the privilege every now and again of being relieved of their responsibility as a parent for a few hours or days; but I think that even then, there's a limit to what someone who has put themself in a position of parenthood can reasonably expect to be entitled to in the way of personal behavior.
For now, I like my life the way it is. I like being able to hit the pubs if I want to. I enjoy being able to sit at home and read a book, or check the news, or go see a film. Because I enjoy this freedom, and don't care to give it up, I haven't yet afforded myself the opportunity to jeopardize that condition through premature onset of fatherhood. If I ever did put myself in a position to alter my situation, I would be doing so with the understanding that such a change in status would effectively end my days of pub crawling, unmolested Internet surfing, and nights of uninterrupted slumber. If that status change occurred, I would suck it up, be an adult, and live my life differently.
What do you think, folks? Is there an inalienable right to be young, have fun, to eat, to drink, and to be merry, as if tomorrow is our last day on Earth? Or does parenthood, particularly early onset parenthood, spell the reasonable end of such freedoms?
As many of you know, I ended a serious relationship in February of this year. Although it wasn't a deal breaker, one of the things that continually annoyed me was that my ex, who I've taken to calling The Mirror, was a bit of a party girl, though not to the degree that some are. (*cough* Katie *cough*) She also had several friends who had, out of wedlock, and without any planning, gotten pregnant and had children.
On several occasions, The Mirror talked to me about these friends of hers, and how tough their lives were, and such. One friend lived with her boyfriend, who was the father of her child. The boyfriend didn't have a job, and basically sat around on his ass all day, accomplishing little or nothing and bringing in no income whatsoever. This added additional stress to The Mirror's friend's life. In this particular case, The Mirror (who was living in London at the time) and one or two of her other friends were getting ready to arrange a weekend trip for this young mother up to London to hit the pubs and clubs and have a weekend off. Okay, I can get onboard with that. However, The Mirror interjected a statement to the effect of:
Even though she's got a child, she still has the right to be a young person.
I have to admit, I sort of take exception to that. The way my personal philosophy works, I have the right to party, go wild, light my hair on fire, paint the town red, and the like because I am unattached, and have no children, and such. My responsibility for the last five years has been school, with the additional responsibilities of student organization leadership, showing up to my shows at the radio station every week, and showing up to work in a state that allows me to successfully complete my job.
Technically, I have the right to have all the sex I want, whether it's with a serious girlfriend in a monogamous relationship, or random flings like Lycan's. I further have the right to avoid protecting myself against the early onset of fatherhood, and any sexual partners I should choose have the right to take measures to protect themselves against the early onset of motherhood. We still run the risk of incurring said condition(s), and if we do, the responsibility of parenthood then completely negates our so-called "right" to act young and be crazy and irresponsible.
I know for a fact that the Dark Horse Sandal Man, a few weeks ago when we were out at a local meat market, expressed extreme distaste at some female he'd encountered at a bar who had a kid, but was out looking to score on a regular basis. I tend to agree with him. I can acknowledge that people should probably be able to enjoy the privilege every now and again of being relieved of their responsibility as a parent for a few hours or days; but I think that even then, there's a limit to what someone who has put themself in a position of parenthood can reasonably expect to be entitled to in the way of personal behavior.
For now, I like my life the way it is. I like being able to hit the pubs if I want to. I enjoy being able to sit at home and read a book, or check the news, or go see a film. Because I enjoy this freedom, and don't care to give it up, I haven't yet afforded myself the opportunity to jeopardize that condition through premature onset of fatherhood. If I ever did put myself in a position to alter my situation, I would be doing so with the understanding that such a change in status would effectively end my days of pub crawling, unmolested Internet surfing, and nights of uninterrupted slumber. If that status change occurred, I would suck it up, be an adult, and live my life differently.
What do you think, folks? Is there an inalienable right to be young, have fun, to eat, to drink, and to be merry, as if tomorrow is our last day on Earth? Or does parenthood, particularly early onset parenthood, spell the reasonable end of such freedoms?
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