Recent news of the renewal of the “three year marriage contract” between the celebrity actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes grabbed the international headlines. Some of the key points of the negotiations are 

•  An extra $500,000 for supporting Scientology, the religion that Tom follows
•  An increase in her annual clothing allowance from $750,000 dollars to 2 million dollars
•  A role in the next Mission: Impossible film.
•  Katie reportedly received a 3 million dollar bonus from Tom when she gave birth to Suri. For more children, Tom’s “increased the additional offspring offer as an incentive for Katie to get pregnant again”. He’s apparently ready to pay up to $5.5 million for Katie to get pregnant, with a 2 million dollar bonus if she conceives by 2011. Katie, however, according to reports, seems to wants at least 11 million dollars if she gives birth and 5.5 million dollars if she ‘tries and fails’.

 A marriage contract had never happened in countries like India where marriage is considered to be too “holy” to be “breakable”. Such a contract is a novelty even for the West where the institution of marriage is already on decline and more people prefer live-in relationship to marriage. A contractual marriage seems to be the future of marriage.

Yet there is nothing in this contract that must shock any logical person. The amount of sacrifice a woman has to make to give birth to child is immense.   She has to bear the child in her body for nine months and suffer the deformation of body during the pregnancy. The labour-pain for giving the birth of a child is the greatest pain that a human being can suffer. Even after the birth, her responsibility is not over. She has to feed the child her own milk and give lot of time for bringing the child up.

If Katie is demanding a suitable compensation for here suffering, it seems to be perfectly justified.

A World of Contract

In fact, the concept of contractual marriage should give new ideas to the new generation woman about their “rights” and demand similar compensation from their husbands. Some woman may also realize how they were cheated in the past as nothing was paid to them as compensation for giving their body and child to their husbands. It may not be surprising that after a few decades, most women may demand suitable compensation for giving birth to a child and rearing up.

The only problem is that men would not be willing to pay up. After all what a man gets by having children? A child in the modern time means a great responsibility. You have to feed the child, send them to school, and take care of their educational and other needs. Yet there is no guarantee that a child shall pay anything back and take care of you in your golden days. Worst still, he or she may claim a good portion of your wealth as their legitimate right.

Why then one must have a child at all?

A World without Children

In fact, many people, particularly in Europe, Japan and Russia seem to have already realized the folly of having children and their population is on decline over many years. The decline of population and the increase of aging population are gradually making these countries older and weaker.

Many countries are already alarmed by the decline of population and they have already started offering incentives for increasing population as most men have refused to pay up like Tom Cruise. For example, Russia is offering financial incentives and subsidies to encourage women to have children. Australia currently offers a $5,000 bonus for every baby plus additional fortnightly payments, a free immunization scheme and recently proposed to pay all child care costs for women who want to work. Many European countries, including France, Italy and Poland, have offered some combination of bonuses and monthly payments to families.

Yet it seems that these incentives are not good enough and the people are not wiling to produce child for such a peltry incentive and the population of these countries continue declining. .

What may come next is severe punishment for producing children. Imagine that in future, the countries of the declining population make a law to have at least three children in the family. If the couples fail, they may have to pay heavy damages, lose their jobs or even jailed for life for failing to fulfill their national duty.

Such possibility can not be ruled out as State may have limited means to give incentives but unlimited capacity to award punishment.

A Mystery called Life

It may seem mysterious to the new generation why people of their older generation produced so many children without any “reason” and “benefits”? In fact, even now, most countries of the developing world are facing the problem of overpopulation rather than decline of population. In countries like India and China where the population have already crossed a billion, there are incentives for producing less number of children and punishment for producing more children. Yet millions suffer the wrath of State and pain of the body to give birth to new lives.

In fact, the people in most part of the world still consider giving birth to babies as the greatest act of emotional satisfaction. A woman without child always feels incomplete and unsatisfied. A child brings joy and love in the family and most people still consider children like flowers which fills the family with love and happiness. In fact, the parents who are not able to have children would give their most valuation possession to bring a child in their lives. The desire of child is so great that the Emperor Akbar of Mughal dynasty travailed barefoot to miles in the hot desert to the Dargah of Salim Chisti for getting the blessing of the Sufi to have a son.

Why do from the birth of civilization, woman had been bearing children and suffering immense pain to bring a new life in this world?

Why a man works day and night while suffering numerous humiliations in the job to bring food to his family so that he can see joy and love in the eyes of his wife and children?

Who do many parents spend the prime of their lives and fortune to bring joy in the life of their children?

All of them get nothing in return except “love” which most find more than the compensation of their suffering and hard work.

Your Unwritten Contract with God

It is not a surprise that most people not only produce child without any expectation of any financial gain but perform a number of good deeds like bringing-up their children, taking care of parents, taking care of their friends and relatives, give charity to the weak and poor, fight for the righteousness, remain faithful to their spouse without any contract.

What do such people gain in return of their good deeds?

The answer to all questions seems to be “love” which is the only compensation of the good deeds that a man does in his life. The reverse is also equally true as the only sure punishment of doing evil deed is “withdrawal of love” from the life of man. Such a man may be able to amass tremendous wealth and power in this world, yet he fails to get love even after spending all the material possessions.

Thus what could not be done by spending all the wealth of the world can be done by the lure of love which seems to have been given “free” through an unwritten contract of God with humanity. God seems to say,

“You follow my path and I shall fill your life with love.”

And most people find love more valuable than anything else in this world.

Love is Life

The power of love is so overpowering that a man follows the command of love without even knowing it. He has understood from his heart that only love can guide a man in the right direction as love alone is the path of God. However, if a person losses the path of God, he loses love even if he gets everything of this world. The desire of love, however, again brings him back on the right path.