As a young missionary in Ecuador, we had the opportunity to attend many religious meetings. In one of these meetings, I heard a phrase I will never forget, "How much time a day do you spend ironing your socks?" I was very confused in that moment. In these meetings we talk about many topics, with the goal to improve ourselves. 

    You may be wondering what that might mean. I remember asking myself 'what sane person would ever iron their socks?' Most socks are elastic so they don't really get wrinkled at all, along with the fact that almost nobody sees them because they are in our shoes or pant leg. What a waste of time.

    It was exactly that, let me rephrase it for you. How much time are you wasting on things that may seem important, but aren't truly so?

    In 1968 a book name, "The Population Bomb" foretold that at this point in time, with a continually growing population, we would have desolated the earth. It explained that millions of people would starve to death and the environment would be pushed to its limits by straining all natural resources. The book was written when the estimated world population was around three and a half billion, and stated much more than that would be the maximum population before we brought these atrocities upon ourselves. The presented solution to these issues was extreme population control. The author necessitated a lower fertility rate to slow growth or lower population.

    In retrospect, it seems obvious that this isn't the case. We have far more than three and a half billion people on earth right now. The thing is, many people believed this, and soon people began to follow. They stopped having children and the fertility rate of many countries have fallen in response. In fact, many industrialized countries are having large decreases in population, meaning cultures are at risk of dying out. This may not seem to be such a large problem for those of us who are in the United States because our culture is a large mixing pot of other cultures. It is easy for other ethnicities to identify as 'insert ethnicity here'-American. This, however, is not the same case for the majority of the world. Many other cultures do not so easily adopt each other. They continue to see each other as separate, even as they immigrate to other cultures.

    One of the scarier reasons that this is an issue, is that the United States' largest export is its culture. Often other countries and cultures follow the trends and actions that we have here. We are seeing our influence of a diminishing population trend pass on to other countries. 

    Now the reason that I bring this up is because I believe it was a turning point in society. Family by many of a young age is now seen as impossible to achieve, they do not have the confidence in their ability to raise a family. They have lost their faith in themselves to even be or find an acceptable partner. 

    Others have deemed the family as not important to nurture. It has almost become an outdated belief. Many have put other aspects of their lives such as work, financial responsibility, hobbies, travel, or one of the many other parts of their lives as more important than the family. I am in no way saying that these aspects of life are not important. They are crucial for the majority of people, and help us live, learn, and grow as human beings. The danger is allowing them to surpass the importance of the family unit.

    The implications of this are crucial to understand because it is having serious consequences on modern infrastructure. There are not enough workers to replace those who are retiring out of the workforce. This means that we wont have enough people to work and support modern society. This will also cause a catastrophe with social security, supporting those who have retired out of the workforce.

    My invitation to all those who read this is to not use your time ironing your socks. For those who are able, please don't give up the opportunity of a lifetime to bring children into the world. It is a scary thought, but it is possible to do. It is a responsibility to support modern society.