I’m not quite clear about your stance on birth control. You say in The Story of B that you have no problem with birth control. But at the end of Ishmael, the student implies that we live in the society we live in because we don’t want to live at the mercy of the gods.

However, birth control seems to me to be a matter of trying not to live at the hands of the gods. It seems as though it is a contradiction to say that we create problems by refusing to live in the hands of the gods, but at the same time saying you have no problem with people using birth control.

I guess I would most like you to clear up your stance on your feelings toward the use of artificial contraception.

Living in the hands of the gods doesn’t mean taking no responsibility for your life. If you insist on walking barefoot in the hills of New Mexico and get bit by a rattlesnake, don’t blame this on living in the hands of the gods.

If you insist on drinking the tap water in Tijuana and get dysentery, don’t blame this on living in the hands of the gods. If you insist on standing on a hilltop during a thunderstorm and get hit by lightning, don’t blame this on living in the hands of the gods.

If you insist on having unprotected sex and get pregnant, don’t blame this on living in the hands of the gods. My only “stance”—repeatedly stated—is that there is no one right way for people to live.

ID: 670
posted:
updated: 08 Dec 2003