Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Control (01/30/06)
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TITLE: Who Controls You? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pauline Donnelly
02/05/06 -
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Who controls you? Many people balk at this question, insisting that no one controls them. “I’m my own man,” someone may say. Of course, this is a fallacy. Unless you live alone in a remote wilderness, you are assuredly subject to the control of many people.
This is most evident with parents and children. Parents control their children (hopefully) but their children also control them. Ironically, the younger the child, the more the parents are controlled. For example, the new mother tries to get her baby “on a schedule” which really means that her baby’s personality and unique rhythm determine how much sleep the poor woman will get, when she will eat, bathe, etc. - which sounds suspiciously like a schedule to me. Fortunately for the human race, parents are willing to give up control of their lives for the blessings of a family.
Anyone who works for someone else is controlled by his or her boss. If not, they will probably soon be unemployed. Then they will have the option to become self-employed, but the self-employed aren’t free either. They’re subject to the whims of the whiniest people - their customers. If successful enough to actually have employees, they will find that the discontented ones may try to exert control over them through unions, lack of productivity, disability claims, theft, etc. The self-employed are also controlled by labor laws, tax laws, laws of commerce and lots of paperwork.
Face it, just about everyone controls you. Even strangers on the telephone. Take telemarketers for example. Somehow, they can control you so that you can’t resist answering the phone instead of letting the answering machine pick up. Once you answer, you may find yourself in the phone twilight zone. An accented voice asks for someone whose name sounds vaguely like yours. You ask him who’s calling. He asks if “your mommy” can come to the phone. You tell him your mommy is incarcerated. He tells you he can’t understand you and wants you to spell incarcerated. Your only chance at this point is to tell him he has the wrong number and quickly hang up.
The final, age-old question to ponder is, do men control women or do women control men? The answer may depend on who you ask, but the truth is both have some control. When there’s a healthy, loving relationship there is give and take. Sometimes one person takes more than the other does. Husbands sometimes take a little too much pride in being the head of the household; but as women have learned from the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the husband may be the head, but the wife is the neck that turns the head. As you can see, control can be a complex and mysterious thing.
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