EDITORIAL - Ready or not to become parents

Every once in a while we get a story involving a newborn baby who has been abandoned in a pile oftrash by parents who cannot afford to take care of the child or just didn’t have plans to be parents.

This happened again last Monday morning in Sitio Cogon, Barangay San Vicente, Liloan town, after a scavenger found a baby, still with its umbilical cord attached, in a sack that had been dumped.

But while other babies are found dead, this story has a happy twist as the child was found alive and taken to authorities. So were the parents, identified as local residents Vilma Jemes Sayre, 36, and Raul Saat Taritas, 38.

They are set to face charges for frustrated infanticide.

We realize how difficult it is to raise a family these days, but that is no excuse for what they did. The act was nothing but downright wrong, not to mention horrific. They thought to leave a helpless human being to die, exposed to the elements, then later to be devoured by scavenging animals.

And the child didn’t deserve any of this, the baby was blameless, he or she didn’t ask to be born, let alone to two parents who thought nothing of getting rid of it. It was not the child’s actions that led to its conception.

And those two didn’t have to resort to such a barbaric act either. Putting a baby up for adoption is always an option. There is always a couple out there that cannot have their own child and are looking for an option, or a family that is looking to share their love.

Those who have no plans to become parents, who aren’t yet ready for parenthood, or who find the thought extremely horrifying should be careful with their actions. Yes, the process that leads to procreation can be fun, but because nature designed it in such a way, that process may lead to a new life being born to people whether or not they are ready to become parents.