A Mother`s Love

I found this last chapter to be rather harsh. Its main focus was devoted to explain the genetics involved in motherly care towards their children. The book refers to this care as an “investment” on a child rather than true, genuine love or affection. Dawkins also convinces the reader that there is an optimum usage for this investment that should be taken into account whenever a female individual has children. If you were to ask a mother, which of her kids she loved the most, she would probably say that she loved them both equally. The Selfish Gene assures you that genetically speaking, this should happen. Sine a mother`s relatedness to her children is always equal, than her care should be invested equally amongst all of them. This is obviously a normal trait in a mother and I am not surprised to read it, it is when Dawkins begins to describe the case of runts which shocks me. For those who don’t know, a runt is an under-sized person or animal, who needs more attention, or parental investment than a normal child. This is Dawkins`s opinion on the topic, “Depending on the circumstances, it may pay a mother to refuse to feed a runt, and allocate all of his share of his parental investment to his brothers and sisters. Indeed, it may pay to feed him to his brothers and sisters, or to eat him herself, and use him to make milk.” (Dawkins Pg. 125). I am aware that the second sentence of this quotation is mainly directed towards animals, since a human mother who succumbs to cannibalism towards her own child in order to feed her other children is quite rare. The first sentence though, sounds like a possibility for humans. All of the cases that I have ever witnessed, involving a runt, handicapped, or disabled child, the mother usually shows more love and care towards them, in order to give the child the most normal life possible. But I am sure, that there are situations where not the same thing happens. There are people in this world, who don’t waste their time on a runt, and would rather focus that effort on normal children. However, I am sure that the gene which causes siblings to kill other siblings for more investment, or mothers to kill children to invest more in other children, is not nearly as common in humans as it is in animals.