In a barbershop several years ago, I sat beside a chubby, fair-skinned, pimp-looking guy, who gave the air that he just made millions from a pyramid scam (true enough, he was a real estate agent). While waiting for his turn, he was talking animatedly to my barber, so it seemed he was a regular customer there. Anyway, the TV was blaring with a news feature on overpopulation. The story featured a labandera, in her late 20s, with 6 or 7 kids, all of them below 4 feet tall. Her husband worked odd jobs: construction, tricycle driver, etc. Needless to say, it was a sad story. They lived in squatters area, with no sanitation, no running water. And of course, my real estate friend had a mouthful to contribute:yak, we need contraception, yak, to control number of poor people, yak, give in to our urges, yak, to be responsible, yak, to save money, yakkityyakityyak.
My barber patiently endured this verbal diarrhea. I, on other hand, had less patience. I itched to snatch a labaha and swipe it clean off the snake oil salesman’s lardy throat…And watch him vainly stop the blood spurting from his…just kidding. My barber softly said, as the the chubby guy paused to breathe, that using condoms wont make an irresponsible husband suddenly responsible and caring. I guess he also meant: It wont stop a wife-beater to pummel his wife. It wont stop an adulterer from his escapades. It wont turn a lazybone into a workhorse. It wont stop your son or daughter from pre-marital sex. Oo nga naman. Kung ganun lang, a condom would be the panacea to the world’s problems. I suppose this goes the same for women, perhaps in a smaller degree, since they are a holier lot than men.
Sex is something not just very pleasurable, but also very holy, that’s why Christ protected it with the sacrament of marriage. Having kids and raising them well demands continuous and increasing self-sacrifice from both spouses.We believe that, for serious reasons, a couple may adopt natural family planning methods (NFP), but not just to ‘go around’ the Catholic faith. NFP helps the entire family, by respecting the bodily requirement of the woman, by helping spouses live restraint, by helping the couple save, etc. But they have to be very clear on their intentions.
That is why it’s weird that artificial contraception is often called ‘responsible parenthood’. Where is the responsibility in forgoing having a child so that the couple could buy gadgets? Or go on a cruise? Taking the pleasure of sex only, without the ‘consequences’, is really tyranny over women.
Anyway, when my barber said that single line the scammer guy turned silent for a while, and then just said green jokes. Kups talaga.
