Copyrighted by publication in 1998. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted by the author to the readers for storing an
electronic copy of the work intended for standard fair usage. The online version of this work is under a state of revision.

Every person alive now, in the past, or in the future is a part of a densely woven tapestry of life. The reason you are here now is that your ancestors have survived war, famine, fire, flood, and disease long enough to be able to have children. They have survived through hard work, cooperation, and luck. Sometimes, only an instinctive drive to survive, regardless of the hardship and obstacles, stood between them and death.

Your ancestors have fed themselves and their children. They have clothed their children. They have given them shelter and education, and have worked to give their children the ability to have children of their own.

It has never been easy, for life is never easy. Life is a continuous struggle to survive, the fight to avoid death for one more day, and the hope of continuing life through one's descendants.

You are alive now through the support of the people around you, such as your family (or a family surrogate). Without them, you could not have survived a week, much less long enough to begin learning to take care of yourself. Without your family, you would have never learned to crawl, much less walk. Without your family, you would never have learned to speak, read, or write. Without your family, you would never have been able to learn the skills necessary to get a job and perform it well enough to obtain the necessities of life.

Your ancestors and your family have made your existence possible through their past struggle to survive. Your family makes it possible to meet others, form associations, make friends, and, of course, find a mate.

Finding a mate is a crucial point in the weaving of the tapestry of life. This is the point at which the possibilities expand for you to have children of your own. Your method of choosing a mate and forming a family affects not only yourself, but your future children and even their descendants. The family which you form will also have a more profound effect on the community around you than any single individual within it. In order to increase the benefits of survival to your children, you must find a mate willing to struggle to support your family, willing to struggle to overcome any obstacles to supporting your family, and willing to sacrifice to support your family.

Having children is crucial to the survival of the human race. Without children, humanity would be dead in about one century. Without children, no survival is ultimately possible. Bearing and raising children is, therefore, the most important task possible. However, bearing and raising children is also the most difficult task possible.

Many barriers stand in the way of a child being born. Potential parents must survive long enough to bear children. Biological parents must also be fertile enough to bear children. If those barriers are overcome, if the potential mother is in a fertile time of the month, and if the couple has sex during that time, then there is a chance that fertilization will occur.

The instant of fertilization is the crucial instant in which everyone's live began. In the moment of fertilization, all of the genetic factors of the potential child are determined. Half of these factors are contributed by the father, half by the mother. Scientific research has shown that genetics are a powerful influence in all aspects of life. According to The Washington Post, "These statistics have shown that on average, identical twins tend to be around 80 percent the same in everything from stature to health to IQ to political views."

With all of the struggle for survival supporting them, some mothers still decide to abort their babies.