Possession

Possession.
/pəˈzeSHən/

A possession.
An item of property; something belonging to one.

The act of possession.
The state of having, owning, or controlling something.

Being in possession.
The state of being completely under the influence of an idea or emotion.

All three carry a similar theme. There's a sort of power imbalance. While we mostly refer to inanimate objects when using the word "possession," the idea still applies. You have more leverage over a table, correct? You can hit it, flip it, even tear it to pieces--yet it will remain silent. The table is yours. Maybe you bought it at some local store, you may sell it for a decent enough price. Even if the table is "treasured," how many people do you see treating their tables with love and respect? They may name it, clean it, keep it from crumbling under the pressure of time, all at the expense of being call obsessive.
Now, what if the table controlled you? Your life now revolved around keeping this one table satiated and in pristine condition. Constantly, you missed out on your life because specks of dust are persistent and continue to fall on your precious table. Not only did you spend a good chunk of your time cleaning this table, you obeyed it. Ask it a question; one creak is "yes," two is "no." Nothing you did was without some sort of approval from this table. You'd drive yourself to madness. Your life is now falling apart and you now wonder how the table ever lived in such conditions. So why not be on an equal plane?
You and the table are now equal partners. Weird, yes, but stick with me here. Imagine you and the table being on an equal plane. You respected it and it respected you. The two of you discussed major decisions together and everything you did was a 50/50 split. Does it work? No. Why not? It's a table. Naturally, a human is going to hold possession over a table. Any other dynamic simply doesn't work.
Why then can certain things hold possession over others? And this question is more than just living versus nonliving. Humans can take possession over animals. Creatures, sometimes bigger than ourselves, with their own lives, families, and habits. Somehow, we have the power to scoop them up, lock them up, and claim them as our own. Even if we "treat them well" or they "like us," it doesn't change the fact that we have made them ours.
In fact, humans often take possession of other humans. Not to the same extent as animals, but honestly, how many times have you heard someone say "he's mine" or "she's not mine?" Parent to child, is that relationship not traced with ownership? A being left with no choice to be completely dependent on you that you have full responsibility for? This could be applied for any sort of guardian and the human they're looking out for. How about a relationship? Sure, it's a two-way street, but most people tend to treat it more as "we own each other."
All this now begs the question; is being someone else's possession particularly bad? Personally, I'd say no. All life on earth has thrived with collaboration and by looking out for one another. You are most protected when someone sees you as a thing to be protected. If they're willing to take ownership of you and shield you from those who only mean to harm you, then you can sit in their shadow safely. An issue only arrives when they refuse to allow you to leave their arms. Once you build a relationship outside of this possessive layer, you can be sure that you're still free to leave when you wish. You can even establish a sort of "I own you, you own me." As long as it remains within certain boundaries, I, personally, see nothing wrong with this.
Sure, own isn't the exact word use to describe it, but this is just my take on it.