The Randy Man of Tennessee

According to news reports just coming in, there is a man in Tennessee, United States who has fathered 30 children. He is just 33 years old!

Desmond Hatchett of Knoxville has children with 11 different women. Already, the state has been dividing his paycheck into two portions, one portion for onward distribution among the kids. Unfortunately, payments made to individual kids don't amount to much because the randy, baby-producer is making only minimum wage. In fact, some of the "baby mamas" receive as little as $1:49 per month for each kid and the oldest child is 14 years old.

How did this young man get to this critically embarrassing stage in his life? In one particular year, he had 4 kids twice!

It was further revealed in news reports that as at 2009 when Hatchett was dragged to court to answer charges that many of the mothers were not receiving child supports, he had "only" 21 children. As though in a comedy movie, the young man even made a "promise" then that he was not going to father any more kids. Yeah right! In the past 3 years, he ended up having 9 more kids.

Incidentally, the state cannot make Hatchett to stop making babies because it's not against the law to make babies.

George Bernard Shaw once lamented that "Parentage is a very important profession but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children." When therefore is the society at large going to establish some rules in the protection of kids who are being brought into this world in hapless situations such as those "mass-produced" by and for Desmond Hatchett? Here is a country where one is compelled to get a license to be able to perform the simplest of task. Some licenses are indeed filled with ironies. For instance, a middle-aged woman who has successfully raised her own kids to adulthood will need a license to baby-sit the kids of a couple of teenagers who became parents without any license but only some casual, unprotected sex.

On the other hand, instead of "harassing" or stressing out Desmond Hatchett, the state of Tennessee should have simply compelled all the "baby mamas" of the man to attend some counseling sessions on how not to spread their legs wide out for just any man that catches their fancy. And if they must do so next time, the women should be admonished to, at least, be smart enough to use some birth controls to avoid the debasement of motherhood. I have always been of the strong opinion that a woman has the primary responsibility to prevent unwanted pregnancies, at least, for her own sake. This is in spite of those who argue otherwise. But tell me; when a man and a woman engage in casual sex, who gets pregnant? Who carried the pregnancy for about nine months? Who goes through a painful process of child birth?And who is saddled with the stress of nursing the baby over several sleepless nights?

While each of Hatchett's "baby mamas" might not readily know about the young man's role as a serial father, common sense should have dictated the use of contraceptives. There is the Pill, diaphragm, coil, sponge, plan B and several others all over the counters of retail pharmacy stores. If they had used any of these preventive devices, neither the women nor the affected kids would have fallen victims of this type of social illness. As it is, the situation is worse for the poor kids because the reality here is that many of them may end up as potential "raw materials" for the American prison industry. What a randy man of Tennessee!