No loyalty to name, race, or genes

In order to live the easiest and stress less life as possible, I've made some decisions that older people find disagreeable. Namely, don't get married and don't have children. The criticism I get from older generations is that a family and children bring joy and happiness to your life. My immediate rebuttal is that joy and happiness is not guaranteed with a wife and children and that a wife and children require work. And I hate working so much. Work creates stress and misery.

This criticism hasn't just come from older generations. My current generation asks me the following question.

Don't you want to have little versions of you running around?

"No. Those require work."

I can understand their point of view. We live and we die. We don't last forever. Maybe some people believe that there is a duty to preserve your name, race, and genes into the future.

But I don't care about any of these things. I didn't realize why I didn't care about these things until I heard it from Cappy. Cappy said that you can tell if a person is worth something if they describe themselves by what they have accomplished in life rather than what they were born with.

I'm Chinese. Well only half Chinese. But I don't use chopsticks. I don't speak Chinese. I've never been to China. I don't have a lot of Chinese friends. I don't really celebrate Chinese New Year. I hate shrimp. And every time I go to an Asian buffet, I bring shame to my ancestors by getting a pizza, french fries, and a spinach roll. I don't really practice any Chinese culture. So personally, I've never felt I should have pride in my race or culture. I didn't do anything to become half Chinese. I was just born that way. My race isn't who I am.

I'm the only child in my family. If I don't procreate, my family's last name ends with me. And I'm totally cool with that. My name isn't who I am. I don't even really care for it. My name is just an identifier to represent me. As I am the only child in my family, my genes are in the same situation.

My genes make up who I am. My body is made of genes. But even if I did create a child, that child wouldn't be me. I don't know. I guess I just never really felt like wanting to create a child.

Maybe people want to procreate to ensure that they aren't a genetic failure. After all, according to Darwin, an individual is only successful if he produces offspring. But who cares about what Darwin thinks? I never met the guy.

And genetic success doesn't necessary equal lifetime happiness. Given a choice between the two, I'd rather choose lifetime happiness. Not saying that both are mutually exclusive though but it can be hard to have both.

And the idea of my genes phasing out of existence doesn't sound so bad. It is kind of nice actually. I'm the one and only. I'm the end of the line.