Why I Left Norway

Books | Project Ninety | Training

23 January 2022

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The shortest answer is a broken heart. When Maxwell decided to pursue a legal case against me to get money as adult rather than accept the paid position we offered him at SeaSmart it broke my heart. We had such a nice summer reconnecting while he was working there, but in the end the will of his mother was stronger. Perhaps the only reason he managed to work with me at all is because Cara didn't know about it until he had already accepted the job. I don't know. She doesn't respond to my emails for information about our children.

To be entitled to a percentage of my salary as an adult in Norway, Maxwell must fulfill three conditions:

1. He must be enrolled in school.
2. He must not work.
3. He must live at home with his mother.

Can I escape this slavery in another country? I don't know. In Norway his right to a comfortable lifestyle seems to trump my right to a living wage from working. Maybe if he stops getting a check from me every month then he will stop ostracizing me. Maybe he will hate me for not working. Who knows? His mother has limited him to applying to colleges in Bergen so he can continue to live at home and thus fulfill the above three conditions, so my working has already been used to limit his horizons. I would have preferred to have helped him start earning his own money, to have helped him find his own place, to have helped him find the way to follow his career dreams. Like I did with Alora and Brittan. Like I hope to do with Zara one day if I ever get to know her again. At least I got to help him get a little more software development work experience.

Who is John Galt?