tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-261488431860109218.post8643200670848044663..comments2023-04-29T03:51:39.633-04:00Comments on Ankle Deep in the Silver Sea: By What Measure A Slave?Stanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744611628375476156noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-261488431860109218.post-39455642828627448462010-02-04T15:50:29.729-05:002010-02-04T15:50:29.729-05:00Your last accusatory point of people holding you b...Your last accusatory point of people holding you back misses the mark. A true collective of liberated people not only allow others to operate under their own whims, but encourage them to do so. I know, it's damn hard to imagine, but I consider it the sort of hippie stereotype.<br /><br />"That's cool man, be you! Alright dude. I dig. That's radical." There's something to be said of a mindset that allows not only yourself but others to flourish and - more importantly - fail spectacularly.<br /><br />I think true freedom comes when you realize you CAN'T help these people along. It's so hard to let the ones you truly love fuck themselves up. (When I was four, my father once let me stick a paper clip in an electrical outlet at great risk. After seeing I was alive he said, "See, that hurt like hell didn't it? You won't ever do that again, you idiot.")<br /><br />Your meddling only stymies their own ability to find their own way.<br /><br />In a bigger sense, I think you're indicting our own societal urge to baby us every step of our lives, instead of letting us get bloodied and bruised when life and it's perils colliding with our humanity. Not every place is like this, and you being a well traveled man should know that.<br /><br />It isn't, ultimately, anyone's fault that people want to hold you back. It's the byproduct of much love and a bit of training.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com