Unintended Consequences

One of the continuing sad stories in the news today relates to the Chinese parents who lost their only sons or daughters in the recent earthquake. Of course, we all know of the Chinese policy set in place years ago to limit the population of the country by requiring its citizens to have one child only. Many of these parents of only children have doted on them and made tremendous sacrifices for their child to get a good education. The children have literally been "the apple of the parents' eyes" as well as the hope of grandparents as well. As with most Chinese families, the children's task was to take care of their aging parents later. Now, many families are experiencing multiple emotional losses. The government never counted on this unintended consequence in their one child policy.

Now it appears the government has issued a statement indicating that parents who lost their child (or whose child was disabled) in the earthquake are now free to have another baby. The statement strikes me as cold and calculating since we all know that a new baby cannot possibly replace the loss of an already living child. Many parents will likely be too old to be able to conceive again. The tragedy is great on so many levels.