Vulnerable – we can protect ourselves, we get to decide who and what is safe for us

When we are born, of all creation we are vulnerable and helpless the longest.  Although most teenagers would argue, the human child needs nurture and care for at least 15 years!  During that time our parents and caregivers make decisions for us to keep us alive and developing towards a healthy human being.  Obviously we know children that are in situations that call for them to grow up too fast and they seem to be able to pull it off but that is not natural.  That is survival and even sometimes subsistence.  Adults that grew up that way develop problems in later life that left unattended can produce adults with problems big and small.  So as we become adults we need to know that we can protect ourselves, we have a right and a duty to protect ourselves.  We also get to decide for ourselves who and what is safe for us to let in to our lives; what information, what people, what situations get past our boundaries.