Would you raise a clone of your child?

Yes

1 of 12

by Mary Guimont

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Would you raise a clone of your child?

I remember reading the book by Stephen King called Pet Cemetery.

In the story there was a special burial place for pets. The pets were buried and the next day they would come back to life. This would be great. Right? The only problem was these pets never came back the same, at least not in spirit. You see they would look the same but would never act or behave the same again. In fact not only did they not behave the same they would behave violent and evil. They were far from the same animal in personality or in spirit as they were in their life before.

At first I could not relate to these people who would bury their pets in this cemetery because why would you want this animal to come back? It may look like your pet but it sure would not be in spirit. Instead it would come back something dark and empty.

I did not understand why these people would even want these creatures. After all if your dog got rabies. Most owners would want the pet to be put to sleep. They would not want to wait and see it turn against them first before they had to kill it.

Right?

Well then something different happens in the story.

A man's little boy who is just a toddler is killed.

The description of the boy's death in the book when he is being run over by a truck is brought alive in my mind with Stephen King's descriptive narrating. I feel the pain of the man who lost the toddler. Tears are brought to my eyes.

It is here I realize even before the book suggest what is to happen next. What I would do.

I would bury my son in the cemetery. Even though it would not morally be right and the boy would not come back the same. I would want to believe in my suffering and grief that if I buried my son he would come back the same instead of the creature the boy becomes in the end.

I would hope that somehow he would comeback the same little boy I loved and gave birth to. I would want the son that I held.

So, I could hold him again, hear his voice say "mommy." and hear his sweet laughter fill my home again. I would want a second chance.

I would risk everything to have this chance again because the pain would be so incredible that insanity would tell me that it was possible.

Losing a child is the most painful loss anyone could go through.

I have watched my sister and my Grandmother both lose their sons and they never get over the pain.

It is a wound that never really heals.

So of course it would only be natural for me to want to clone my son if I lost him in death. It may not be morally right but I could not help myself.

There is a big difference in what we should do and would do if in lie we had to face something like this.

So when you answer this question. Answer it more objectively and less morally. Answer it more realistically. Would you not want your child to come back?

Imagine this. Your child is dead you cry and long for him everyday. In the peak of your grief a doctor comes to you and tells you he can give you back your son in a clone. It would not really be him but he would act and talk and have other personal characteristics as your dead son did. It would look and act like him and in your heart and it could feel like it were him. All you want is to just hug him once more. A second chance to have what fate has taken away from you.

Can you honestly say you would not do it? Let me remind you I am not asking you if it is morally right. I am just asking you, if you were a grieving parent. Do you not think it is possible that you would want it?

I just admitted to you that when I was reading the book Pet Cemetery I could see in myself as a grieving mother doing what the man did in the book despite the outcome.

A clone would not have the same horror as the clone did in Pet Cemetery.

In fact the clone of him would more then likely be perfect when comparing him to your child. It would look exactly like him even have similar personality traits as he did.

In the peak of my grief, I do not think I could help myself if I had the choice but to try to bring him back as a clone. I think I most definitely would and raise him too. I think most would also. They may feel like they would not but if faced with it today. I think most would do it. It is allot easier to say what we wouldn't do or do when not faced with something as controversial as this.

So look at this debate more objectively and less morally. Do not base your decision on what you think is right but on what you think you would do.

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