As kids, we’re taught that we are the future and we should strive to be independent. It’s a nice idea, isn’t it? However, reaching true independence can take a while. Why? As Loyiso Gola tweeted “your parents run your life because they pay for your life”.
You may think that you’re independent but you’re not. As long as your source of income is someone else, your independence is limited. This statement includes rich kids whose parents don’t love them to a certain point but it applies to the average kid: the one whose parents work (or parent works) and don’t have money to blow. Or buy blow. You have to work for your independence: make your own money. For as long as someone else is providing you with money, you are dependent on them.
Look at me: I live in a flat, paid for by mum. I go to a nice university, paid for by my mum. I can cook, with ingredients paid for by my mum. If I happened to be put in a position where my mum could not/would not provide for me, I’d lose a lot of things. But that isn’t what annoys me.
What irks me, is the fact that due to the financial support, I can’t do my own thing. I can do only what my mum will finance. I got blonde highlights in May and my mum was OK but when I went purple, she didn’t appreciate it. And I’d done it with her money. See how limiting that is? If I could, I would not go home during the festive season. But I can’t. You know why? Coz I don’t have my own money. I’d need her help to stay alive.
It really sucks because I can’t really say that my life is my own: I don’t control it to the utmost. I can’t say that I completely do as I please. So I’m stuck with: My life is mine to live as I please. Within the constraints of my mother’s thumb. For now.
Bits Of Ki 