Is the Original Sin Really Not a Sin but the Original Crime?

Once upon a time, you were a newborn baby. You had just spent about 9 months in an amazing biological isolation tank — with 24/7 womb service. Although you were immersed inside your mother for those months, you were pretty much on your own.

From birth onwards a totally new situation arises. In the womb, you kind of did whatever you wanted. Now there are adults taking care of you who want you to do what they want you to do, and not necessarily what you want to do.

If the adults could manage to be sensitive to this amazing new arrival, they would naturally do their best to respect whatever the child wants. It is their life, not ours. This little child is just built for rapid learning: their brains are creating 1 million new connections a second! So, it can quickly learn that we are doing our best to help it do what it wants to do, so that when that is not possible, it will accept that too. A natural child-adult bond based on love and respect is perfectly possible.

Of course, that presupposes that the child is really wanted, and welcome from the start. If, as often happens, their arrival is simply accidental, any ambivalence in our part will only poison the process.

Sadly, even our “yes” has a limit, and we end up imposing our preferences onto the child.