N...to the HELL NO.

No. Do Not Comply.

It’s a word we hear a lot, from the time we’re born. In fact, the average toddler hears the word “no” 400 times a day.

I’m a firm believe in the word “no”. While I HATE to hear it as an adult - because I want what I want, when I want it - being able to say “no” to someone else is powerful. It keeps your life in harmony and puts the necessary fences around it, which in the end, actually fosters freedom and the conditions needed to truly flourish. It may seem counter-intuitive, but a good garden needs fences. It needs the pulling of the weeds. NO is those fences, and NO pulls those weeds.

There was a time I couldn’t say “no”, and it got me in a ton of trouble. My life became a free-for-all, completely out of control. I had a couple of experiences in elementary and junior high where my “friend” groups, on two different occasions, just turned on me in vicious ways. One day it was all good, the next, I was on the outside.

My need for acceptance went through the roof, and to be rejected was as good as being stabbed in the heart. To cope, I just simply said “yes” to whatever came next, thinking that if I said “no”, new friends would just reject me again. Eventually, that just wears you out and makes things really bad, as Jim Carrey eventually found out in “Yes Man”. Or any progressive policy that doesn’t work, now that I think about it.

Eventually I made peace within myself, grew some layers of skin, recovered from the exhaustion and damage, and have gone on to learn to love saying “no”.

Saying “no” becomes like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the easier it is to use. The layers of skin and the iron in your spirit become thicker and firmer as you use it.

In the world we find ourselves today, saying “NO” emphatically and definitively is mandatory. As I was researching how many times people hear “no”, I saw a few articles by woke psychologists and pediatricians admonishing parents to NOT tell their kids “no”, and in doing so, it made me realize in a new way why we’re where we are today.

We have a bunch of grown adults who never have learned to say “no” because no one has ever taught them to say no. We have parents who refuse to disciple, are afraid of tantrums, or believe saying “yes” make a child more manageable and healthy.

In fact, humans need boundaries. Clear boundaries. When “no” isn’t practiced or enforced, there grows a sense of entitlement, arrogance, resentment of authority, and the belief that every belief, opinion, and decision is not just valid, but must be accepted by others. As long as it’s THEIR opinion, or an opinion they approve of.

NO is the first line of defense against the tyrannical toddlers in positions of power and influence trying to strip our liberties. Against the JV team on Twitter trying to drag you into the delusion of Clan cis gender and Team Covid for life. Against the mask Karens and vaccine Kens.

Make no mistake, that’s what these people are. Mental and emotional toddlers. And just like toddlers, they need to hear it over…and over…and over…and over…again. To get to the positions of power they hold, they have been told “yes” for far too long. They forget what NO feels like.

Let’s remind them. Over…and over…and over…and over…

The future of freedom and keeping our human liberties depends on it.

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