Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth, was named after his paternal grandfather, Prince Andrew of Greece. Prince Andrew’s wife, Princess Alice, had suffered from partial deafness since childhood. Because of her handicap, her family believed she would never marry. A Greek prince, however, fell in love with her and they in fact married. One of their children was Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth.
According to one report, when the Greek prince went to Princess Alice’s father to ask for her hand, her father warned him in the most explicit terms that she had a serious hearing problem. The young prince, however, was adamant. Then the princess’ father explained: "Your passionate confessions of love will fall on deaf ears." Her father felt he had to emphasize this point; he didn’t want his daughter to suffer a greater sorrow after marriage when her husband discovered she was handicapped and perhaps would want a divorce. The young prince was still undeterred and was even more passionate in his avowal of love: "I can see love in her eyes and she can see it in mine. Eyes do not lie and they possess greater eloquence than tongues."
Let me leave this story for a bit and go to a letter from a reader named Galal. He is deeply in love with a girl whose hearing and speech are impaired. And because of these disabilities, he has some reservations about marrying her. He met her at a charitable function and it was a case of love at first sight. After learning about her disability, his love intensified. He found in her all the qualities for a wife — good family and solid education. She was also a very good painter. With the help of a woman friend, Galal wrote to her. She did not reply and so he wrote again and again. Finally, she sent an answer, stating that she was handicapped and that people did not want a wife with disabilities. She also warned him that an up-and-coming young man should not knowingly put obstacles in the way of his future success by marrying a handicapped woman.
Galal continued: "Her apparent altruism and sacrifice made her dearer to me and I doubled my efforts to win her heart. Our relations became warmer as we wrote more letters and met several times in the presence of our mutual friend. Finally, I made up my mind to ask her to marry me. Her parents are delighted and though we are engaged now and are preparing for the wedding, I am disturbed by doubts, particularly after reading a similar story in your column."
I told Galal that marriage was one of the most important decisions a man or woman would ever make. The decision must be made carefully and thoughtfully by both parties. If a man is convinced that the woman has the qualities he wants in a wife, he need hesitate no longer. A physical disability is of course obvious and can therefore be compensated for. At the same time, other disabilities such as spiritual, moral or personality ones are not obvious and may go undetected until considerable harm has been done.
I received a letter once from a woman, Fareeda. She longed for love and sympathy but she was lame. Since no man asked for her hand, she decided to kill herself. After receiving Galal’s letter I wrote to Fareeda entreating her to be more patient until the right youth, who finds nothing objectionable with her disability, comes along. An educated broadminded man will not view that kind of physical disability as disqualifying a woman for marriage.
I narrated Princess Alice’s story to prove how blissful a married life can be and how devoted to each other a couple can be, even if one of them is disabled. The princess lived happily with her husband and had a number of children before she died at the age of 84.
Now back to Galal: I am not qualified to say if your children would inherit any disability. This matter should be discussed with a competent geneticist. Since the situation has developed to this point, canceling everything would surely have a traumatic effect on the girl — who warned you initially about her disabilities. This shows her concern for you. Instead of telling you "yes" or "no", I simply put the facts to you and ask you to make your own very personal decision.
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In a recent letter, a reader suggested a solution to the difficult issues facing the Arab world in particular and the world in general. The man suggested that Arab scientists should develop a method to reduce people’s lifespans to less than 40 years. In a world in which people never live beyond 40, students will find no difficulty in enrolling for their chosen courses of study. They will be spared the need to study irrelevant topics. Unemployment, one of today’s biggest problems, would not be a problem at all.
A shorter lifespan will also comfort wives and husbands who suffer because of an unhappy marital life. There will be no issue of prolonged spinsterhood because lives will be very short. Sons and daughters will no longer worry about looking after their aged parents.
The world will also be spared the cruelties of tyrants and oppressors such as Slobodan Milosevic and Ariel Sharon because their savageries would be short-lived. The rich nations will not need to worry about increasing populations in the poor countries as the world population will be under control. There will also be an end to environmental pollution as industrial production can be considerably reduced. There will be a surge in the demand for coffins, undertakers and grave diggers. Hospitals and doctors will have a thriving business because diseases leading to death will appear early.
The reader concluded the letter pointing out that people in general would be inclined to be good and religious. Forty years would pass faster than we can imagine.
I don’t know why the originator of this novel idea preferred to remain anonymous. In fact, he suggested solutions to some insurmountable difficulties of our age. Those international bodies concerned with the challenges of the population growth may welcome his idea. However, we cannot forget the fact that the human age is decided by God. No matter what a scientist does to increase or reduce the lifespan, the will of God will prevail. In my opinion scientists’ efforts and money would be better spent on something more positive and productive.