El Nino's Big Adventure

I've been thinking about free will for quite some time now. And it seemed rather elusive to me until I began equating it with choice. Perhaps that is elementary to you, but it was not to me. And for this posting I looked up "will" on dictionary.com and found this explanation: will (noun)
1. the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions: the freedom of the will.
2. power of choosing one's own actions: to have a strong or a weak will.
3. the act or process of using or asserting one's choice; volition: My hands are obedient to my will.

I'll be candid and honest. One of the reasons I never thought I'd have a child is because I was afraid of the huge responsibility. What will I be "teaching" my child when I don't think I'm teaching anything? What lessons will he or she learn that I have unwittingly bestowed? Because, quite frankly, I know I learned things from my parents they have no memory of and my parents remember "teaching" me things that I have no memory of. It seemed like such a gamble. Then I began thinking about free will and let myself off-the-hook so to speak.

And I am sure that we will unwittingly teach him many things we cannot now know. But el has the choice to learn them and even unlearn them. I've unlearned some things in the last few years and will continue to release myself from patterns of learned behavior that no longer serve me. It's kind of fun to realize I got stuck and then to unstick myself. And I have the free will to not see the places where I am stuck and then stay stuck in them. That's my choice as well. It's part of life and learning and growing up.

So now I realize el nino has choice in the lessons he learns from me and his father. We will do our best to provide him with unique experiences and teach him about love, respect, honor, and compassion. But it will be up to him to listen and learn. And maybe he will and maybe he won't.