In a suggestive vignette, a stork appears carrying a child. Fly in front of an old man looking up. The old man, seeing the child, exclaims, "As long as there is life there will be hope!" The child, from above, responds, "As long as there is hope there will be life!"

Deep relationships are established between life and hope. Many young husband couples ask questions like these: when will we have a child? How many children will we have? Are we really going to have kids? Depending on the picture drawn on the horizon, the answer can be very different. In addition, there are things that do not depend on husbands, such as the painful drama of infertility.

Perhaps some people think that a couple who have a home of their own, with a safe job, with emotional and family stability and with acceptable wages, would be more prepared to welcome soon one or more children who could be born as a result of their love. A couple, on the other hand, who are barely paying for their flat, who do not have a clear work future or who receives low wages, and who above all live with family tensions, will tend to delay the coming of the first (or second or third) child. 

He'll surely dream of becoming a small family.

However, life gives us many surprises. There are well-endowed families who, against what one would expect, have almost no children. Other less-favoured families, even poor, welcome a small army of children one after the other who brighten the few available corners of the small home that covers them from rain or the sun's rays. Finding out why one and the other situation is very difficult.

What is clear is that if in a marriage love and mutual respect reign, and one lives in a climate of optimism, trust, generosity, harmony, deep faith, it is easier to open yourself to the possibility of a first, second... fifth or seventh child, although before the coming of each one can make a more or less long list of difficulties that will accompany the new tenant of the house.

Of course, there are situations that require parents to think seriously about delaying the birth of a new child. But in other cases, with a little effort and optimism what seemed like a problem is solved with that dose of hope that allows the start of a new pregnancy.

There are those in our world who believe that every child who is born is a new problem to solve, especially in places where there is more poverty and where food and medicine are lacking. But if we value every man for what he is, and break schemes of selfishness and laziness, we will realize that every child who is born, even in conditions of poverty, forces us all to sharpen our ingenuity, to work to give him what he needs, to better distribute the riches of a world that lives in the midst of clamorous injustices, and to let him grow as a new citizen who can, if he will, if he will be able to, if he will welcome the seed of a good education , to improve this humanity and make it a fairer and less selfish thing.

Therefore, if we hold up the flag of hope, we will see that many husbands who believed themselves almost forced to give up new children within the walls of the home, find ways and ways for, God willing, to peek new heads on this planet who needs to grow in hope.

While in Europe there are countries where schools are empty and governments foresee serious economic problems in about 15 or 20 years because of the lack of children and young people, America is under pressure from some interest groups that they want to control, from above or with more or more propaganda subliminal, and not infrequently with deception and violence, the number of children of so many couples who would like to welcome, with generosity, a new life.

I hope that one day these groups, who often say they want to fight poverty, will give up eliminating hunger with the tactic of preventing new births. This is not how justice is attained in our suffering land. Hunger is eliminated with men and women who can receive education and financial aid with which they can develop economic activities capable of giving them food, housing and health. Poverty is not taken away by millions of dollars to sterilize thousands of people, sometimes against their will, but with millions of dollars to distribute medicines, to teach agricultural techniques, to open new water wells. The globalized world cannot be fair if, for example, it allows more ease of access to contraceptives in Haiti or Vietnam than to drinking water...

As long as there's hope, there's going to be life. Perhaps even the prophets of pessimism will continue to fight against the family, against the children. On the other hand, progressism based on respect for men and women and on the acceptance of each life as an invaluable treasure will work to better distribute wealth, so that the rich are not always richer and the poor see their poverty increase every day. Hope leads us to build a better world. Our children will be the first beneficiaries, and why not, we too will realize that we have grown a little in love and justice.