My childhood friend, Joselyn, as a young girl, was being strangled by her father, Maurice.  He wasn’t doing it to cut off her air so much as keep her head at a very specific height.  He was doing his darndest to prevent her from slouching even slightly, wherein if she relaxed and dropped down whatsoever, then she would be effectively hanging by her neck.  It forced her to either stay at his designated height or else encounter suffering.  The situation did not sit well with me.  It didn’t cause pain or hurt her so long as she held up straight, so in that regard, in his mind maybe he felt like the choice was hers whether to experience suffering or not.  I told Maurice that it was unnecessary to be so controlling, especially with Joselyn because I knew she was a responsible person.  He listened but it didn’t change his mind about it.  I sat down with him and basically told him that his decision to persist in this way caused me to lose respect for him; I stormed off in disgust, disappointment, and sadness for losing him as a friend over this incident, as this appeared to be an irreconcilable difference between us.  As I walked away I said his behavior was totally reprehensible.

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