# "Why?"

*Daily Meditation #325–1/13/2023*

By [YouDaimonia](https://paragraph.com/@youdaimonia) · 2023-01-13

philosophy

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Most of us were, unfortunately, children raised by children.

Our parents weren’t prepared for us.   
They plunked us in front of the TV or books or games or told us to just go play with others — anything to have a moment free of the responsibilities and duties of the burdens of parenthood.

And why not?   
Who can blame them?  
Parenting is **_exhausting_** work.

But, if we don’t actively raise our children — and aren’t willing to discipline them — we will **_love_** them…  
…but we may not **_like_** them.

The world can be a wicked place.   
If **_we_** don’t raise children with **_morals_**, an ability to **_think_**, and to **_be of good use_** then _the world will raise them_ into a **_creature_** who follows, works, and consumes, instead of an upright, thinking **_human._** 

So, prepare your children for the world that they may have a spine of granite.

They must be willing to question authority and ideas right down to the **_marrow_** of the narratives. 

Don’t bludgeon their “Why?” out of them.   
Don’t allow their education to operate like a factory farm, shaping them into fodder for the Great Machine of the Adult Working World.

Raise them so they are perceptive and able to **_generate wisdom_**, independent of **_you_** or whomever peddles “intelligence.” 

But raise them so that they go into the world doing this rigorous drilling into ideas in such a soft, velvety manner that others don’t just enjoy them, don’t just like them, but love them and, in fact, **_would even die for them._**

Anyone can question beliefs, narratives, or ideas.  
But few can do it in a manner that **_builds_** respect.

Endeavor to raise our children into independent thinkers capable of respectful mistrust and dutiful questioning so that the world — and those following creatures — cannot capture them and snuff out their light.

**_Follow for daily philosophical meditations._**

**_These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”_**

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*Originally published on [YouDaimonia](https://paragraph.com/@youdaimonia/why)*