Be like everyone else!
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You can live with your own mind, making your own choices, or you can live like everyone else, live with someone else’s mind, obeying the way of life that those around you exist. Which is better, which is better? It all depends on who the particular person is and who the others are. What are the values and what is the level of the individual, in what society does he live?
If this is the personality of Munchausen from Mark Zakharov’s film «The Same Munchausen», then for all the absurdity of the character of the baron, he is above his surroundings, and for him to abandon himself is a personal tragedy and death. If this is an alcoholic or a maniac who has lost his human appearance, then it is better and more correct for him to start with someone else’s mind, if his own mind is not enough.
A spontaneous child, a peering teenager and a young man who believes in himself, going from himself, being in the first position, are rather sources of freedom and development than their tired, confused, short-sighted and frightened parents.
Remember: «First, parents teach to walk and talk, and then — to sit and be silent …»
However, in smart societies and good parents, the situation is different. If the content of the settings of the environment, family or social, is positive, constructive, freedom and development, wisdom and personal responsibility, then in this case a child, teenager or young person with a well-learned zero position has at least the opportunity of a good start.
Maybe he himself, personally, is a coward or lazy, and from his personal position he wants to score on everything and have fun. But he was taught to obey his elders and read books, and there they remind him: “Do not be lazy, do not be afraid, do not be offended, do not waste time. Learn. Learn to enjoy life. Work. Think!
It was this situation that S.I. had in mind. Gessen, when he wrote that a child is not born free, but a slave. And he can become free only through properly organized coercion. “Free people are not born, free people become!” In such a situation, the zero position in comparison with the first one is a source of positive and development. No one can prevent good parents from creating such a promising situation for their children, in their family. Good educators create this situation in their schools and communities.