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This is a story about a couple who was going to vacation on Mallorca. They had made arrangements with a babysitter. When she did not show up on time, they harnessed the child to its playpen and drove off because they had to catch their flight. When they got home, they found the child choked to death in the playpen.
The babysitter had gotten into a car accident while en route to their house, and she was unconscious when the ambulance took her to the hospital. She still lay there unconscious when the couple returned home (p. 387). This final story addresses not only the parental temptation to think of one’s own interests first, but also serves as a warning against the substitution of modern devices for authentic parenting. Child safety locks, playpens, harnesses, electric socket coverings and the hundreds of other safety devices used by modern parents, this story argues, present a new form of danger – one that emerges not from the spirit world, but from the world of materialism. While few of the stories I encounter in daily life refer to the dangers of man-bears and spirit loss, an overwhelming number continue to warn against over-reliance on material goods and amoral behaviors. In this postmodern world, there are indeed some universal aspects to pregnancy beliefs and legends, though it is technology now that has become incorporated into our most basic belief systems about life and the maternal body. As I visit my own midwife for ultrasounds and regular checkups, I’m struck by how much their due-date calendars really do resemble those of the ancient Mayans and how much those ultrasounds mimic a medium’s communication with the spirit world. Resources
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