lais·sez-faire
ˌlesā ˈfer/
noun
- a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering.
synonyms: noninterventionist, noninterventional, noninterfering; More - ECONOMICSabstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market."laissez-faire capitalism"
synonyms: free enterprise, free trade, nonintervention, free-market capitalism,market forces "an agenda that embraces the concept of laissez-faire"
I thought to myself, "That's how it should be." I'm not sure how our basic philosophies get shaped, but I knew laissez faire to be the right path the second I knew about it.
It seems to me that there are three kinds of people. The laissez faire crowd, the nanny crowd, and the "I don't want to tell you your business, but..." (They are kinda between the two other ones.) I have never understood the nanny people. They believe that people need to be told how to live their lives. They are the ones who were on the playground telling you that you weren't playing right. They are generally silenting judging you even when they don't speak up. When I was in high school, I took a church class from 6-7am. School started after 8, and those of us who went straight to school would sit around in the hall catching up on home work, chatting, or sometimes dosing off. My philosphy? Doze if you need to doze! If you need the sleep, get it! If you don't wake up when the bell rings, I'll give you a friendly nudge. But the nanny ones, oh heavens. As soon as someone's head started dropping, it was, "Wake up sleeping beauty!" Why?!? Apparently, you're not supposed to sleep in the hall, and that's good enough for these folks. They're the ones who make laws that adults have to wear seat belts, who pushed prohibition through, and who want to make sure you never do anything you want to, ever.
The 'I don't want to tell you your business, but...' crowd only bugs me sometimes. They generally mind their own beeswax, except when they really feel it's their duty to speak up. (And I will be fair, sometimes there are situations where anyone should speak up. If I see evidence that a kid is being abused in any way at all, I am certainly NOT going to say, oh well, not my business!) These people are the ones that tell you that you are posting too many pictures of your kids on facebook. That you should really lose weight, or they might subtly offer to help you when you go clothes shopping next. These people are mostly harmless, but still kind of annoying.
Hey, guess what? You know what I do when a friend continually posts 14 pictures of their kid every day. I scroll on past. You know what I do when my insane conservative conspiracy theory friend posts a billion crazy posts? I scroll on by. (While shaking my head and contemplating blocking the person's posts.) You know what happens when someone does something I wouldn't do, but isn't harmful? NOTHING. It's NOT MY BUSINESS. I don't listen to that offensive radio show, I don't lobby to have it banned. I don't write an angry letter to my congressman that people are getting up too early and I think that's silly. I live and let live.
That's why I don't care if my son's room is a mess. Not my room. I only bring it up when he complains that he can't find something or his clothes are dirty. I don't care if you're 50 lbs overweight. I'm pretty sure in our society you've heard the dangers of obesity and I don't need to tell you about them. I don't care if you smoke, as long as you don't blow the smoke right in my face. Especially when I'm eating, I hate smoke in my food.
This Laissex Faire-ness of mine is why I'm a libretarian. I think the government has gotten far too out of control and is nit-picking every little thing ever. It's craziness! So there you go. Now please do what ever you want to do. No skin off my nose.
