I just sent late birthday flowers to my niece. I finally relented, and sent flowers, instead of ignoring her birthday. At least I arranged for her to get the flowers in this (April) her birthday month! The reasons for my indecision and procrastination I finally understand: I realize that it is hardly her fault that she never communicates with me, her Auntie Barbara. It dawned on me that my niece and my nephew might as well be slaves, hostages to the whims of their parents, and their parent's dislike, disapproval, etc. of me.

Rather than consider that my niece and nephew even HAVE any choice of communicating with me,I have finally begun to realize that their mother and father have enslaved them to do as they, the parents, wish. My brother and his ex-wife would disown their kids if my niece and nephew had anything to do with me. I realize that this infinitesimally small subset of "family" is played out in macro in the FAMILY OF MAN!

The 1% PERFORM as in loco parentis/slavemasters! (The 1% is limited to PERFORMING, instead of EXPERIENCING anything, so they have emptiness and DESPERATE GREED, regardless of how much money, fame and power they have.) If anyone in the world DARES to make the 1% the slightest bit uncomfortable, then these disruptive "children" are immediately disowned,i.e., disruptors of the status quo are (at best) "on their own", without any resources! (At worst, disruptors, revolutionaries, etc., are assassinated, etc.)

Who can blame anyone for wanting to avoid being "on their own" when on-one's-own-ness seems to be what is the Hobbesian life, a life that is, most likely, "nasty, brutish and short". Unless and until more survivors of "on-their-own-ness" can show how being socially "orphaned" can be the way to limitless consciousness, (if of course you have the wherewithall to survive ON-YOUR-OWN-NESS, to begin with, that is) most of the world will remain "cowed" into social and familia/parental, slavery to money fame and power. The only thing we can really only own is being on-one's-own-ness, because all other property,(other than the "property" of consciousness) all money, fame and power, really OWN YOU!