As of the end of March, I will be FREE. Yesterday during the drive to church (family obligation) my father demanded money for coal; upon my refusal he became extremely irate. He repeatedly told me I was either going to pay him or move out. Later during church he apologized; after church on the drive back he told me that he knew why I didn't have the money to pay him (my reasoning, I really couldn't afford to). I didn't have the money because I had gone over my balance on my debit card and gotten dinged on overage charges to within an inch of my financial life. My dad's solution was for me to give my debit card to my mother. I refused. Again my father became irate, saying that since I didn't live on my own I had no right to make decisions for myself. He asked me what would happen if my car broke down, and I told him I'd walk where I needed to go. He wanted me to say that I'd call him and ask him for a ride. That I didn't got him even more angry. By the time we got home he was positively fuming. He again attacked my decision to try theatre as a career and brought up every major mistake I've made in the past year. When I didn't apologize, he told me that he'd kick me in the gut. I asked him "Is that a physical threat?" He said "That was a mental threat, if it was a physical threat I'd give you no warning, I'd just hit you." He then told me to apologize. When I didn't, he hit me. Again, he told me to apologize. I said, "for what, you hitting me?" He hit me several more times, driving me halfway around the table. My brother and dad both told me to apologize for my attitude. I turned away, walking around the table. When they asked where I was going, I stopped, pointed at my room, and said "I'm going to pack, and I'm going to leave."
"Not in your car, you're not! You owe me money!"
I pulled my car keys out of my pocket and threw them on the table, and walked into my room. My dad followed me in, yelling that I couldn't go anywhere as he was a lienholder and owned everything in my room. While I owe him a thousand dollars, there is no legal, written document that he could use to legally bind me, and I knew it. When I picked up some dirty pajamas to throw them in my hamper, he tore them out of my hands, saying "these are mine!!!" and throwing them elsewhere in the room. When I tried to go past him, he pushed me down on the bed. When I tried to get up, he pushed me down again. This continued several times; each time with him yelling that I wasn't leaving, and that I owed him money. Each time I told him "you'll get your money at the end of march." My brother came in and joined in using physical force to pin me. At one point my father had his hand around my throat, pinning me to the bed and forcing my head around away from him. At another point my brother had me pinned with his hands on my arms and his leg on my chest. My brother told me I had nowhere to go, which I refuted. I told him I had places; when I refused to tell him where, he said I was bullshitting him. My father accused me of drug use, asking if I was going back to my "faggot friends in Columbus" (Ladies and gentlemen, he refers to our very own Rich.) He asked me if I had become a faggot.
Finally, somehow, things calmed down. I told my father that he was the only one who told me that I was a failure and would never succeed unless I did what he told me to. My father said that at the end of the semester I was to leave the house. I countered by suggesting that I leave at the end of March, when I give him his money. He agreed, and we shook on it. Now it's just a matter of time.
No politician is worth electing. No government is worth having. NO FREEDOM IS WORTH SACRIFICING.