Self-Reliance

Hey, I almost feel like Ralph Waldo Emerson--"Self-Reliance."  No, of course, I make no comparisons, certainly not ones favorable to me, with Emerson.  Still....

Last night driving home, I was the subject, yet again, of light-hearted ridicule. Karen was driving, since I'd had a few too many LaBatts.  We had a car-load--three others.  K started pulling out and I said, "Put on the headlights."  She did, but someone asked, "Don't you have the automatic headlights?"  K proceeded to tell them, "Yeah, but he won't activate them.  He says, 'If I want my car lights on, I'll put them on.  I won't let a car dictate what I'm doing.'"  That was a fair representation of my attitude.  K went on to further explain, "He can't stand the automatic door locks, either.  As soon as they lock, he unlocks them."  And she again accuraely indicated why I do so and my reasoning behind that.  There are some, jocularly I hope, who use such escapade to psychoanalyze me--and I often come out on the wrong end of ridicule.

But I think about this often.  It's not just a quirk or stubborness.  I believe it reflects some life principle of mine.  The most obvious one is "self-reliance."  (No, this isn't goin to be a criticism of Obama's "You didn't make this..." speech, ridiculous on many counts as it was.)  In many, most, of my life experiences I want to be self-reliant.  I want to do things for myself.  Of course, others have contributed to my successes (and failures!) and I am grateful.  Too late in life I realized there were lots of folks I needed to thank, but never did and it was often too late, far too late (as in dead).  A lot of my charity work (for want of another term that I'm too tired to stop to think about) is a way I can repay what others have done for me, although it's often unbeknown to them.

Back to the "self-reliance."  For example, just like I don't want my car to decide when my doors will be locked, I don't want the government, through laws or regulations, or some pencil-pushing bureaucrat to tell me what to do.  OK, I have to stop at red lights (or at least I'm supposed to) and I must pay taxes.  But I resent that some guy or body, by virtue of an elective or appointive office, tries to tell me what size soda I can buy and drink, what kind of television I must have (although were I single, I'd likely get rid of it), what light bulbs I must use, what kind of toilet I must have--the list goes on and on. 

It's my suspicion that people who let cars tell them things are easily persuaded to let others, such as government, tell them what they can and can't do--that is, beyond government's purview.  I, obvously, have no statistics, but....

But my quirkiness with my automobile's headlights and door locks is more than quirkiness and fodder for ridicule--although I don't mind it.