I find it hard to comprehend that analogy. Wouldn't nuns then be considered selfish? I had thought you meant by not feeling an appreciation of children, people were in your opinion selfish, but it does seem like in your second post that if a woman chooses not to have children then she is destined to always be caught up only in her own needs.

I was raised Catholic, as was my husband, and this is not something that I was raised to feel at all.

But then, my personal opinion is that it seems rather close minded any time someone places a stipulation or generalization on others, such as "if they don't do this, then they are going to be this way." Some of the most giving and least self-centered people I have ever known were people who did not have children. One could even say something like people who don't have children have more of an awareness of others around them since they aren't caught up in their own family's wants and needs. But that would be just as generalizing as the no children/selfishness idea. I think it's safer to just take each person on an individual basis without making judgements based on how they live their lives..

These observations are my opinions to that idea, and are not stated in any attempt to "badger" you about yours.