Of Slaves and Submissives

My Great Grandparents are buried in a Slave Grave Yard.  I know,  I don't look like I am black!  Well,  keep in mind that biologically I have 8 Great Grand Parents.  One was Cuban Mulatto the other just black, both were decedents of slaves.  The other six were a mix of Spanish, Cherokee, French, and Irish.   In a strange way,  I am proud that I am the descendant of slaves.  I do not perceive the title slave as an insult.

Once upon a time a slave was a person that was forced and sold into slavery.  In BDSM it is a life style choice.   People that bought slaves looked at them as an investment.  Slaves had no choice in the way they lived, no voice in how they were treated.  They were given the minimal of needs.   A roof over their head, clothes on their back, and just enough food to keep them alive.  Masters/Owners kept their investments and treasured possessions healthy and productive.  Had breading programs to produce more workers.  Once a slave became non-productive, they were traded, or sold.  Now don't get me wrong, there were those owners, that saw slaves as expendable.  They would starve them and work them to death.   I find it ironic that even today, there are both good slave Masters/Owners and bad slave Masters/Owners.  I have heard plenty of horror stories about the bad, and been lucky enough to meet some of the good.

Slave:

1. (Law) a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property

2. (Business / Industrial Relations & HR Terms) a person who is forced to work for another against his will

3. a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence

Submissive

1. inclined or ready to submit; unresistingly or humbly obedient.

2. marked by or indicating submission.

Being submissive does not mean that I have no strength or opinion.  However, being a slave means that you are entitled to neither.  If your Master chooses to let you have a voice and choice, that is his or her allowance.  I have a mind and an opinion.  I have the ability to think and say what I believe to be just, correct, needed, and desired.  Just because I use both my mind and my voice, does not mean that I am not submissive, it does, however, mean that I would make a horrible slave.

Not too long ago hollow asked me to declare myself a slave.  I was put in a very uncomfortable situation, pressured and all but forced to declare the title and I couldn't do it.  I am not a slave.  I just could not do it.  I see the title slave as that of a person that has no options.  In order for me to be a slave, I have to trust that my Sir is taking into account what I would want, what I might need, and how I might feel.  My Master would have to know me so well that everyone in the room would think he was psychic.  

I think that in my past, I was over looked too often. Too many choices have been made that did not take into account what I needed or didn't need in my life.  Too many times I was overlooked in the decisions that were made.   I can see me being labeled as a slave one day.  However, I have to feel safe,  protected, and loved by the person I would be calling Master.  Feel that I am his first priority and that he has only the best intentions for me.  That even in the smallest decisions, he is taking my desires into consideration.   Until then,  I am simply submissive.   I am not submissive to everyone, just like I can not be a slave to just any one.