We All Pay For Each Other
That’s how a society works.
One of the most mindboggling reactions to people who don’t have children is that they’re selfish. That the choice not to create a genetic replica of themselves makes someone a narcissist. And that we whorish crones with tumbleweeds in our wombs are somehow leeching up resources without giving back.
This is incorrect for any number of reasons — not the least of which is that my child-free-ness frees me up to do a lot of stuff in my community, including caring for other people’s children —but it’s also mathematically questionable. Because, while I don’t have children, I certainly do pay for things that benefit children and people with children. Unlike a child, I pay taxes and understand that that’s just kind of how it is to live among other people. It’s what we do.
Or, in theory, it’s what we should do. Any yet, one of the most heated responses to the plan to forgive a relatively small amount of student loan debt is one rooted in selfishness: That I shouldn’t have to pay for other people’s frivolous education.
Setting aside the fact that we all benefit greatly when people go to college (you do want there to be doctors and nurses, right? And you understand that a lot of them have to…
