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i'm watching this Japaneses soap called "14 yrs old mother"... obviously it's about a middle school girl got pregnant when she was 14. It was quite funny in a wicked way at first. For instance, there is a scene where she and her "love" interest held hand for the first time and hugged each other, the next scene was 2 months later she discovered that she was pregnant from this incident ... I was shocked. "did i miss something in between?" i kept rewinding and see if i have missed about 10 min of the show or something. It is amazing how american tv had affected my tv logic... because in a regular American teen show, they will show kissing, making out, stripping off their clothes, actually having sex (for the more graphic shows) and then maybe, the girl will be pregnant. But it's more about just casual sex where the consequences are not considered or ever bothered to worry about.
A good friend asked me is it because Americans just plain have "bad" values. "no, i don't think so" i told her... it's just different. The same reason why saying no is rude to Japanese people, but not in the rest of the world. People form their values and their worldly views under quite different circumstances. there are just too many complicated reasons and a long long process how we end up the way we are today.So back to the soap opera... (spoiler warning) She decided to have the baby. And of course, being 14 , it takes such a toll on her under developed body. She nearly died... i'm not sure how it ended yet, cause i'm not there yet.
But in the spirit of pregnancy - a life is a miracle in itself. I still remember when i was little, my aunt asked me and two other cousins of mine that if we want to have babies when we grow up. "nope, i'll play with my friends' or neighbors' kids. but i'm not gonna put up with all this taking care of them crap" and then later, when i got oldder, i don't even want to get married for a number of year. Marrige is overated i told myself. I don't need a piece of paper to validate my love.
I was "pro-choice" as well, i believed the mother should have the right to decide what to do with her unborn child, after all it's her body. But more and more i think being able to have a relationship with another human being is just miraculous. The process of an egg from production to being fertilzed and go through the all development with all the precision and accuracy in my body, then to birth is just inexplicable ! even today, with all these high tech shit we have, we can not replace that process in tubes and machines. Imagine what a great great journey it is! If you belive in destiny, being a mother itself is a destiny that i believe no female should skip if they can help it. Even if you are reproductively challenged, which i worry about that every day, adopt a child... give a family to a needed child. It will change your life, in a good way. Being a mother is naturally naturally a great great job that i think it's gift to women. I treasure it so much. And i am thankful for my mother and her mother and so on.
Image Source: Lisa Zicceralli
