My father's getting up in years - a Gen Xer who did his 20 years in the military and now lives comfortably as a low-rich class man with his own business, that he continues to run.
He's on his third marriage -- the first two were disastrous (trust me, I was there) -- and to his credit, she's a wonderful woman with a great family; she's his One, as he claims. Also, he had 4 kids between those first two marriages, of which I'm the oldest.
Occasionally he berates me for my lack of children and relationships; me, a late 20s right-leaning Millennial male -- Persona non Grata as far as our modern society is concerned.
Me, who's experienced a childhood consisting of two toxic relationships involving awful women.
Me, who's seen how feminism has polluted the dating pool.
Me, who knows what the Elite have in store for us common rabble, because they love to rub it in our faces and watch the majority do nothing.
Me, who knows my demographic isn't rewarded by the state for having multiple children.
He claims that our ancestors suffered through 100,000 years of adversity and produced offspring, and I have a responsibility to do so as well.
And I'm not saying the man is completely wrong -- and believe it or not, I actually do want kids, with a trusting woman and positive economic prospects, so basically a dream at this point -- but one thing I feel my forbears had that I'm lacking is... ignorance.
It's like the opening scene in 'Idiocracy' (a movie I vehemently hate because of how many people crow on about it being a "documentary of the future", or some other such drivel, even though it's making fun of people like them) where the dumbass gets two girls pregnant and has a huge mess of dumbass kids while the intelligent couple holds back because they think too hard about the economic and social aspects of having a kid.
Except, that's so many of our generation, isn't it? We've blackpilled ourselves out of relationships and children because the future looks bleak, and we have so much information at our fingertips to corroborate this viewpoint.
And as a result?
The men sit angry and alone, being berated by the powers that be for being angry and alone. Either indulging in too much self-pleasure, or debasing themselves trying to get a crumb of pussy like pathetic hounds salivating at the edge of their master's dinner table.
The women sit sad and alone, slutting it up in their younger years and spending their later years surrounded by pets and worthless possessions while they partake of box wine and write blog posts trying to convince themselves of the lie that they're happy as they are.
I don't champion ignorance, but if you don't know much, at least it seems you're more likely to want to pump out 12 kids.
Unfortunately, your father will never be able to grasp the bleak future ahead of us. You are right to be skeptical, and if you want to find the right one, make sure you are able to see her flaws and determine whether those flaws will manifest into something disastrous. Nobody is flawless, but you want to weigh those flaws with her personality and determine whether those flaws could become severe enough to destroy a relationship. All generations, but especially Gen X’ers and older, are incapable of understanding slow decline. They only fear immediate decline. When they worry about a future where AI takes over, they can only imagine Terminator. If the dystopia wasn’t communicated to them with guns and explosions via Hollywood movies, then they can’t foresee a future where the dystopia is simply apathy and decay, a future that is already happening. My family is more open about taking my time in finding someone, mostly because they are very judgmental about the marriage failures of others and especially those inside the family (cousins, nephews, nieces, etc). They are on the cusp of understanding, but the conventions of their prime keep them from fully grasping the decay, most likely too afraid of the rabbit hole they would be diving into if they allow themselves to pay more attention.
My family doesn't even bring it up. In fact I've literally never received any input or guidance on the subject at all. It's one of the things I harbor some resentment over, not being given any guidance at all when it comes to finding someone to settle down with. It's led to the whole process just sort of being dead in the water for years. One day I'm going to wake up and realize that I am old and alone.