I really don’t like having to nag at my boys, although folks tell me that it’s part of being a parent. I have never liked to tell another person what to do.

When I was an officer in the Air Force, I lived off the base in town. I lived with two enlisted men. I didn’t like most of the officers I know. They thought they were special. They weren’t. Even as an officer, I didn’t like to give orders, to tell others what to do. In fact, I refused to do so.

Most of the time, I didn’t have to tell Jonathan or Ariana what to do, maybe because each of them was the only kid I was raising at the time.

As a therapist, I have always focused on showing the client how to become his or her own therapist. Then they could heal themselves without my help, without me telling them what to do.
.

I certainly don’t want anyone to tell me what to do either. I wrote a letter once to Jonathan when he was a boy and I couldn’t be with him for his birthday. The relevant part of the original, written in the mountains above Yosemite Valley went something like this:

There is no one who can tell me what to do. There is no one I can tell what to do. When I know this, I am free. When you know this, you are free too.

Everyone is doing the best he or she can. Everyone is trying to be a good person. When I know this, I am free. When you know this, you are free too.

I don’t need government. You don’t need government either. Government is telling people what to do. You and I don’t need to be told what to do. You and I don’t need to tell others what to do. Freedom and government don’t go together.

Be free!