Breasts and Eggs

by Mieko Kawakami

“Whenever I say this to somebody, I can see it on their face. It’s never crossed their mind that bringing a child into the world could be remotely violent. Hey, everyone loves surprise parties, right? One day you open the door, and everyone’s there waiting

for you, ready to surprise you. Here are all these people you’ve never met, never seen before, congratulating you, big smiles on their faces. Parties are different, though. You can go back through the door behind you, but when you’re born, there’s no leaving. There’s no door. There’s no way back to how things were before. I hate

it to say it, but not everyone likes surprise parties. Most people go around believing life is good, one giant blessing, like the world we live in is so beautiful, and despi...

“I admit that bringing a new life into being is self...

People always find a way to justify their behavior.

“And I’m not just talking about artificial insemination . . . Everyone. They think babies are adorable. They want to try being parents. They want to see how their children will turn out. As women, they want to make full use of their bodies. They want their partner’s genes to live on.

Or maybe they’re lonely and they want someone to look after them when they’re old. Whatever the reason, it’s all the same. Do you see what I mean?

“It’s always about them. They’re only thinking about themselves. They never think about the poor kid being born. No one gives a damn ...

that crazy? Once they’ve had a baby, most parents would do anything to shelter them from any form of pain or suffering. But here it is, the only way to actually keep your child from ever...

“You’re betting that the child that you bring into this will be at least as happy as you’ve been, at least as

fortunate as you’ve been, or, at a minimum, that they’ll be able to say they’re happy they were born. Everyone says life is both good and bad, but the majority of people think it’s mostly good. That’s why people go through with it. The odds are good. Sure, everyone dies someday, but life has meaning, even pain and suffering have meaning,

and there’s so much joy. There’s not a doubt in your mind that your child will see it that way, just like you. No one thinks they’ll pull the short straw. They’re convinced everything will work out fine. But that’s just people believing what they want to believe. For the...

make. You’re betting on another person’s li...

me, ‘People are strange, Jun. They know nothing lasts forever, but still find time to laugh and cry and get upset, laboring over things

and breaking things apart. I know it seems like none of it makes sense. But son, these things make life worth living. So don’t let anything get you down.’

“But I can never accept life. Not if I want to go on living.”