Birth

While it is true that one’s first permanent molar calcifies at birth, many remarkable things besides this physiologic reality occur at birth, not the least of which is seeing the sun for the first time – or, I suppose, more realistically, the harsh light of the operating room…but at least the sun could be seen that first day.  As I recall, a friend once remarked that a human giving birth is almost like something out of a science fiction movie; that is, a human emerging out of another human, and one that had previously been siphoning nutrients from its ‘host’ and is now ready to function somewhat independently.  It really is bizarre, if you stop to think about it.  I don’t remember my own birth, but I have been reliably informed that I had one, and I am quite inclined to believe those who have said so.  No one asked me if I wanted to be born; it just happened, and I don’t recall having much say in the matter.  It is an alien world that we emerge into from the womb:  one no longer of soothing sensory deprivation floating in liquid and one calm, serene voice but one of sensory overload and a thousand different voices saying a thousand different things, including a voice telling another to put you on a cold metal plate and read off a number, as if this helps you.  After birth, though we do get most of our meals directly given to us for a time, we are trained in the system of working for what we get, and even those early meals required a vicious, lung-filled cry sometimes.  We forget what began it all had nothing to do with a system of merit…”“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:4-5)