By Sarah Stewart, Juicy Ecumenism.
“I myself do not enjoy the society of small children,” C.S. Lewis once expressed. It is hard to picture the British author and apologist without noting his enormous impact on children’s literature. How could the author of Narnia not like children?
Not liking children is common in today’s society. Some even brag about it. But Lewis recognized something important about the sentiment.
“I recognize it as a defect in myself – just as a man may have to recognize that he is tone deaf or color blind,” he wrote.
In other words, it is not a feeling to take pride in but a blight in one’s character. As we approach the National March for Life, we should give thought to the value of children.
Lewis called his dislike a “defect” because he recognized that we live in a world of objective morality and that, in order to participate in a rational world, the value response that we have toward things must be in alignment with the value that is objectively owed to the object. When we cannot do so, there is something deficient in us, our feelings are out of alignment with reality. Children, being full persons, are due a proper value response; when we cannot recognize that value, it doesn’t lessen the value owed to them.
We would recognize this when talking about any other group of people. Very few people would proudly announce that they just don’t like women, men, the elderly, the disabled, etc. If they did, it would extricate them from polite society. What then should people do if they don’t enjoy children? Lewis is an excellent example.
Briefly, this is not condemning people who feel initial discomfort about looking after children. Many people are uncomfortable if they have limited experience. There is a great responsibility in looking after children. But that is eased with time and practice, and it is different from not liking them.