Choosing to be Controlled by Good People

“Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to be controlled by good people, by people who love you.” -Valentine Wiggin in Ender's Game

I'll expand out that quotation a bit from my perspective - good is an empirical fact that we often don't know, but must be judged in light of what we know, don't know, past experiences etc.  I've included it here as a way of providing  background to how I arrived at the decision described in a previous post.

We are all being constantly controlled - hopefully in God's direction - by others.  We must constantly reevaluate what role our various relationships play in our lives and whether or not those people are controlling us in directions that we need to go.

Are some relationships beyond reproach?  Do blood ties exist no matter what else goes on?  Is a mental or emotional connection stronger than the genetic lottery?  Do some have an inevitable claim on you simply because?   These are open questions that we must answer and I'm not convinced I have the right answers (incidentally mine are: yes, sort of, yes, no).