For Your Own Good

For your own good is a phrase that I just cannot stand. It seems like this is always used to justify force against others.

We went to war against Iraq, for the good of the Iraq people. They did not ask us for help, we said it was for their own good.

The health care bill has been passed. It if for your own good, they say. Is it? I did not ask for it, I do not want to pay more for other people. The people who do not have health insurance who will now have to pay do not want it.

Wasn't this a saying used throughout all our childhood's? Now it is used when we our adult's.

Since I am an adult, I would like to think I know what is best for me. If I make mistakes, so be it. They are my mistakes. There is nothing worse for an adult than being told what to do, how to do it and being forced to do something they do not want to do.

Do you remember as a kid being told to do all these things and when you asked why, you were told that it is for your own good:

1) When to get up.

2) When to go to bed.

3) When to go to school.

4) When to eat.

5) What to eat.

6) When to go outside.

7) When to come in.

8) Who to play with.

9) Who not to play with.

10) What to play with.

Isn't this just the same pattern for the vast majority of people? The only ones who have fabulously successful lives are the ones who do none of this?

Does these sound familiar:

1) You are told what time to go to work.

2) You are told when you have a break.

3) You are told when to eat lunch.

4) You are told what to work on.

5) You are told how to work on it.

6) You are told when to leave.

7) You are told how fast to drive.

8) You are told how much to eat.

9) You are told how much water to drink.

10) You are told how many sweets, how much meat, how many carbs, how much of everything.

11) You are told how much alcohol to drink.

12) You are told when to celebrate.

13) You are told who to cheer for.

We are told all these things, for your own good.

It would be funny, but it is not. It is the way it is and unless you recognize this there is no way to start to change it.

People like to think they know what is best for me for my own good. But I take back my right to decide for myself.

You cannot change the way people want to control others. It is only by seeing the patterns do you start to see it for what it really is.

I find it is helpful to question everything and everyone. It is too much of a hassle to openly question people. I mean to question them to yourself. When you hear something, someone, or anything whether it is on the radio, internet, tv or in person, you question what you have observed to yourself. I am not into being confrontational at all. I will discuss these things with people who are open to discussing them. If people are not open to discussion, if there minds are made up, it does no good to talk to them. It just serves to frustrate both sides.

Life is too short to be continually battling forces beyond your control.

I concentrate on as little as I can that I have some influence over.

For example:

In the big picture I would like to convince thousands of young men not to join the military. My view is that once more and more young men see things as they are, they would choose not to be a hired killer, not to have someone else tell them what to do every moment of their lives, not kill innocent people for no reason and not to end up killed or maimed by people trying to defend themselves. Not to be told it is for your own good.

In the small picture, I concentrate on my son. If I can convince him not to join, then at least there is one less hired killer in the world.

Live your life for your own good, not what others say you should do.

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