Brad Warbiany doesn’t much like people telling him what to do, and I can’t say I disagree at all:
It?s not that I dislike authority. It?s not even that I always know what?s best for myself. It?s just that I absolutely detest outsourcing the decisions of my life to someone else. If you have an opinion, by all means, tell me about it. I?m not going to guarantee that I?ll take your advice, but I?ll listen. But if you?re planning on telling me what I can and cannot do, your efforts will be for naught. The fastest way to make me stop listening, or to make me do the opposite to defy you, is to try to make my decisions for me.
Not only do I agree, but I’m pretty sure I’ve felt this way for my entire adult life (and probably before then too). I respect authority and I’m willing to consider what someone in authority has to say, but only when its worthy of respect. Which is why I’d be more likely to take advice how to live my life from Benedict XVI (or, even more so, John Paul II) than Edward Moore Kennedy. But, whether you’re the Pope or the President, the easiest way to get me annoyed is to tell me that you need to make my decisions for me. In the end, maybe I won’t always make the right decisions, but they are mine, and I’ll live with the consequences.
