I watched a National Geographic short segment last night on China's One Child policy. We watched it off the internet so I am not sure of the production or airing date, but I am sure you could find it if you wanted to. It was really interesting and as usual, I started thinking. What sparked more of a debate in me and maybe even a pessimistic streak (yes, I do have one of those too!) was that the narrarator said that when the policy was implemented that no one thought of these long term effects that are now coming to fruition like more violence, women being kidnapped for marriages, many baby girls being killed, and many men not being able to find wives. I find it highly unlikely that no one thought forward about these things. I am sure someone did and someone posed all of the possibilities, but the benefits outweighed the possible negatives, or so they felt at the time.
It's just a sparking point for discussion, but many projects look to reduce infant mortality rates, or reduce rates of HIV infection, and on and on. I wonder how many of the directors of these projects look far into the future to see what might be a result. Who doesn't want babies surving at higher rates by training midwives in tiny villages? But what happens when the infant mortality rates decline drastically for that community? Are there programs in place to address the population growth? Can the schools handle the influx? Can parents feed all of the extra mouths? Do they understand birth control? There will be more children, more help for the work they do, but what are the consequences of that? Let's go and save the world, but let's look at what the effects may be of even our positive actions.
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