When I was very young, my mother took my brother and I to the McDonald's drive-thru for lunch while she was running errands. I couldn't have been more than five years old. My brother got a whole cheeseburger for lunch, but my mom thought it best if I only had half of one.
I thought this was discrimination, so when she left the car to go inside somewhere on an errand I didn't fully understand, I ate the whole thing. She came back and looked for the cheeseburger and said, "Noah, I thought I told you to only eat half of the cheeseburger.
"But Adam got a whole one, so I wanted one."
She looked at me sternly and said, "That was my lunch, Noah." I'll never forget that until the day I die. I've never really come to terms with the fact that other people might occasionally know what's best for me. I think that's the curse of the intelligent, or maybe I'm just stubborn, but I learned my lesson that day.
In the end some people do actually make wise decisions that at first seem baffling and ill-conceived. If you decide to disregard someone who is intelligent and has your best interest in mind, be prepared to deal with the consequences.
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