 Suddenly, my eyes were open and I realized that I was the bad guy. So I just started a new business. I just got married and we were looking for our first house. And suddenly the housing market crashed. I didn't understand why. And I had other questions like, if the government has a funding problem, why can't they just print more money to solve it? Or does the government really need to intervene every time there's a problem? How does it work when they just leave things alone? Nothing that I've been taught in school equipped me to answer these questions. I started talking to my dad and he told me something that changed my life and that was that the money that's in my pocket was only worth anything because people accept it. It wasn't intrinsically valuable. And these are things that I never even thought about before. I was googling some of these questions and saw Mises.org where I found a book called Economics in One Lesson. This totally cleared up so many questions that I had about our government and our monetary system. I learned about sound money and how to look at current events through the principles of liberty. I became fascinated about the ideas of economic freedom. I began to devour everything I could from hazlet to Mises to Hayek. I attended liberty events and met like-minded people where we had all kinds of great discussions. And I started to see things differently. Suddenly I realized that I had been the bad guy. The way I voted in the past actually violated other people's rights and my moral principles. I started seeing the world clearly and rather than repeating what I've been fed on the news I thought for myself and was able to connect the dots. By learning fundamental principles of economic freedom and individual liberty I'm now able to keep my political beliefs in step with my moral beliefs. Most of us know that we don't live in a truly free society. We know something's off but we're not sure what it is. The problem is that our minds have been bound by everything from our educational system to our news outlets and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But because the government is a constant drain on our liberties complacency is the enemy of our freedom. Your ideas and beliefs make up who you are and they affect the way you treat others and their property. Shouldn't they be carefully developed and rooted in truth? Fast forward ten years later and I'm just as excited and inspired by these ideas and I'm showing the world to my children through the lens of freedom and I'm grateful to have the Mises Institute and Mises.org as a beacon of light and a sea of confusion so that I can help the next generation know what they need to know in order to make wise decisions. To start your journey visit Mises.org.