[newfreep]

At one point they were issuing orders I did not like (telling me to stay away from my hot girlfriend) and I said (in classic Ayn Rand style): “You chose to have me as your child. I did not choose to have you as my parents.” Ayn Rand is about declaring your independence as a human being—and telling the tyrants to go f&^% off..... They were stunned and speechless.

I gotta ask, what happened next?

I can relate...my hot girlfriend was the petite, blue-eye blonde who lived next door.

We hopped a greyhound and took a "vacation" to Florida. When "johnny law" returned us, we officially became juvenile delinquents with probation officers.

I continued to get straight As and even became the substitute teacher of my high school physics class when the alcoholic teacher wasn't able to stagger into the classroom.

All the while as a juvenile delinquent...

[cgbg]

what happened next

It would take a book the size of Atlas Shrugged to answer that question....

:-)

But--my parents never even figured out what I was talking about--because they were so used to "just following orders" in their lives...they just assumed everyone else should do the same.

Ayn Rand nailed it--and nailed them.

Another favorite book of my young life was Robert Ringer's "Winning Through Intimidation".

I have often been accused of being "impolite".

But--in fact that is an act I put on to deal with folks who try to manipulate me.

To those who treat me with fairness and respect--I treat them the same way.