Friday Fiction - Freedom

"Jake, We need to talk."
"Mmmphf."
"What? What did you mumble at me?"
"What do you want, Dad?"
There was all kinds of attitude in the word "Dad". Exasperation. Irritation. Attitude.
"Jake, we have to talk about the decisions you're making."
"You mean the decisions you make for me, don't you, Dad?"
There was that attitude again. Exasperating. Irritating. Me.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Exactly. Like this bedtime thing. We give you a bedtime and you just arbitrarily decide that you aren't going to do as we ask. You just ignore it and us."
"No, I'm not ignoring you and Mom, Dad". Again. "I just object to the constant struggle for power over me."
"Power???? Over you? The LAST thing I want is power over you. I just want to know that you're making good decisions - and until I do, I have to set parameters for you to learn from. Right now, I can't trust the decisions you're making. You need sleep. You've been falling asleep in class - because you've been staying up half the night playing video games and chatting on your computer. As long as that's the kind of decision you're willing to make - then we have to step in and help."
"You're not helping, Dad." Again!!!!
"No. you're right. We're not. Because you refuse to cooperate. And yet, if you don't begin to cooperate, we can't let up and allow you to begin making your own decisions. Do you see what's going on here? Do you see the Catch-22 here?"
"Mmmmphf."
"What was that?"
"Yes. Yes I see."
"Look, Jake, believe this or not I really don't want to have to run your life. I would love nothing more than to be able to trust every decision you make, let you do as you please, to be able to go to bed at night completely confident that my son, my loving, caring, intelligent son, has made and will continue to make the kind of decisions that I know will lead him to college and to success beyond that."
"Yeah, but it's the decisions that YOU want me to make."
"Jake, what do you see when you look at me?"
"I don't know ... You!"
"You see an old man. You see someone you think foolish and not relevant. And in some ways, you're right. This is your time - it's not mine any longer. You are the future - and I am the past. But the biggest difference between you and me is that I have a past I can refer to - I have been where you are - and where you are going. I know where the pitfalls are. I know what kind of things are out there to knock you off your track. You are willing to charge blindly ahead. I, on the other hand, would encourage a slower and more cautious approach. I would offer guidance and you, it would seem, are bound to refuse. But I HAVE BEEN THERE. I know what you are going through, because I went through it. I am bound by my position as your parent to teach you and you are bound, it would seem, to ignore me, but it doesn't have to be that way. You want your freedom? I want to give you your freedom. All you have to do is trust me. All you have to do is trust that I am teaching you how to make good decisions that will make your freedom valuable. To you and to me. Because I want the same thing. Freedom."


Ndinombethe.