She had discovered the wind and the road, and in an instant she was a master of time and space.

I gave my daughter about 200 STEEM for her birthday this year. I said, "Now you can get your own car!"

She then explained to me that getting a car was not necessarily freedom, and in her wisdom, she taught me that having a car meant that she would have to get a state-issued driver's license.

My daughter had thought about it, and had figured out that if she were to get a car, then she would have to get insurance, a license plate, and would have to jump through the State's countless flaming hoops to keep the car on the road legally.

She Saw a Trap

She Was Right

I couldn't argue with that logic, really. It was true, the State would allow her to drive a car as long as she could afford to, which meant that she would have to get a job. Then she would have two new masters; the State, and an employer.

A Better Idea

She was way ahead of me. I was still living in the world that I'd grown up in, where a young person joins the workforce and becomes a productive member of society, spending their entire lives working to pay for a car so they can get to work to pay for that car.

In the old world, a smart citizen would rent a place to park that car at night-- a place where they could sleep between work shifts, like an apartment or a house.

Now 'earning their keep', the citizens in my old world would hang on to that car and that shelter as if their life depended on it, and while they may boast of their success, they have given up their lives to support the State in which they reside.

She Chose A More Legitimate Freedom

The scooter.

Here's a motorized vehicle that requires no license. The scooter allows a being to travel freely, becoming a friend to the wind, and becoming invisible to the highway robbers that we call the 'police'.

She bought this little bike with her STEEM, and a real motorcycle helmet to go with it. I wasn't sure what to think of it all until I saw the smile on her face when she took off on it.

what real freedom looks like

So, there she goes. That smile was enough for me to know that my gift had been a good one.

At first I wondered if I had done the right thing, but as I watched her buy this used scooter with her birthday money, I could tell by her expression that something had changed in her life. She was about to be mobile, and was about to become a master of her own destiny.

STEEM is Truly Changing Lives

With 200 STEEM, I changed someone's whole world. With that same 200 STEEM, my daughter showed me that the old version of 'freedom' that I had been taught was just plain wrong, and she demonstrated that there was more to life that planning out one's security using cars and houses and jobs.

I think I'll see her again someday, but until then, I know that I put a smile on her face, she got some wheels, and is rolling right along.

According to physics, 'an object in motion tends to stay in motion', so she might roll by here on occasion, beep and wave, and then go back to the wind and the open road, free in a way that I can only imagine.

I'm thinking now that 200 STEEM was the best birthday gift I've ever given. Her smile said it all.

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all photos above are mine, 2018. Thanks for looking in!

click @therealpaul for more