Today at lunch Tova showed some pictures of her friends for one of the teachers at the school. After a while Tova´s boyfriend came up and the teacher said “Aha, so that´s the owner of you” and as the Swedes we are we reacted directly on that statement. Tova said that he definitely not owned her and that you can never own a human being. The teachers continued and said that you own each other in a marriage and talked about the language issue, you say “It´s my wife/husband” in the same way as you say “It´s my pen”.
When it comes to owning and having things, what is the definition. Everything you own can be taken away from you, no matter if it´s your husband or your pen. So in one way, do we own anything at all? The saying that we are just here for the moment, borrowing things is quite beautiful I think.
But I also feel owned. Because if it was not for my fellow human-beings I would be completely nothing. If I was about to be a completely independent person feeling that I owned myself I would have died in the forest, not more than some days old. And what is the difference when you get older? If I don´t have my friends, or the society that is built by humans, or my enemies I would be nothing, once again. And do I own myself if I have to rely on others to survive? I don´t think so and I don´t see the problem with it. We own each other as sisters and brothers of the human race.