On the ownership of another life
From my perspective, I see my role as a Dominant as that of an owner.   In many ways like an pet keeper, if you will.   Responsible for charges that depend on me.   Now, anyone can go down to the store and purchase an exotic parrot - that's a no brainer.   The question is "Do I have what it takes to KEEP that parrot? Not only keep it, but keep it in an environment that will allow it to flourish?" Just like the gardener that takes home an exotic orchid without having the knowledge, background or resources, the plant will probably whither.   He MAY keep it alive, but it won't blossom or grow ..   it will merely exist.   That gardener or bird owner does not, in my opinion, have a right to do that.   It's a crime, so to speak.  

So we translate that to the pet we know as 'the submissive." In a simple world, all she should need is a roof over her head and food.   But we know this is not the case.   Without physical nourishment, the body will die.   Without emotional and spiritual nourishment, the spirit will not thrive.   And each is so different, there's often more work on our part in DETERMINING what they need than it is actually providing it.   Part of this is because they, like most of us, know what they "WANT" but are far less attuned to what they "NEED" and that difference is often staggering.   Ask a kid what they WANT for a meal, and they will usually tell you some sort of junk food.   You could cause one to die by feeding it what they wanted.   Even on the emotional level, there are very few adults that haven't learned a hard lesson that getting what we WANT is not often what is GOOD for us.   In the case of the submissive, we as keepers are charged with learning their needs and fulfilling them.   Usually not directly.   More often it is our task to provide the resources and tools that they require so that they can build there own happiness.   You can not MAKE someone happy, but you can give them all that they need so that if they decide, they may CHOOSE to be happy, and providing that is our responsibility.  

Sometimes we fall from the pure faith.   We do this because we are selfish.   We are not necessarily doing what we do for the primary purpose to making another being's life a wonder.   We do it for us.   To get what we desire.   Take the case of a woman who, for whatever reason and from whatever background, feels an internal need to be used and fears emotional attachment.   In a perfect world, we could work on building the self esteem and helping them repair the emotional damage until they became the sort who felt the need to be respected, appreciated and independent to the point where she grows beyond what you wish to own..   That would be the preferred course of action.   But if you are the sort who WANTS a non-emotional attachment, perhaps the kind of servant who is trained to sit silently in the corner until called, performs a directed service and returns to the corner, a non-participant, then repairing ALL the damage would improve the person, but at the expense of what you wanted.   In cases like this, there is no clear cut rules to go by, because you are attempting to repair ENOUGH damage to make her life purposeful, but not ENOUGH damage to make her needs greater than what you care to give.   This course of action is also open to ethical debate, because you must, to a certain extent, rationalize that what you are doing is STILL better for her than the LIKELY alternative, that her circumstances be worse.  

You must, as a matter of practice, deny that it is likely that she could have been found by someone who wanted her to be ALL she can be.   I know a submissive who is in a monogamous TPE relationship where both parties use the other to explore their fantasies and limits.   She is a bright, independent professional who has no trouble speaking up or speaking her mind, and He is always willing to listen, if not agree.   Yet in the very base of her heart, the most closely guarded and least understood part, she wants to be an unwilling prisoner of a jailer who takes no heed of any need that she may have if it runs contrary to his.   She knows that in order to achieve this, someone will have to imprison not only her body, but her mind as well.   He will have to remove all of her will, all of her ego and even part of her personality.   She knows that a silent part inside her will always be screaming to get out, and much like that tendency we all sometimes have to touch a wounded part of our body to feel the pain, she will be reveling in and silently raging against her own imprisonment.   Were she ever to take steps to make her fantasy a reality, she would be at the ultimate breaking point for most people: she would be making a decision which, even 5 seconds later, is not reversible.   In one second, she would decide the course of the rest of her life with no time-outs, no Do-Overs and no safety net.   Oddly enough, for all that, her biggest challenge will not be making the decision - she'd make that in a heartbeat.   Her challenge would be to find a Dom willing to do that to her, fight her at every turn and take his own satisfaction from it ..   since none would be coming from her.  

For the most part, the genetic tendencies of our species is toward emotional bonding.   Without a discussing in genetic imperatives, let us just say that both you and your submissive will tend to pair-bond.   In this case, you will constantly be challenged with the problems and complications associated with "love." In my experience, these challenges and problems are well worth the effort, but I still admit that I don't feel that way WHILE dealing with any one of the problems.   In any case, your submissive will tend to look to you to supply all of her physical and emotional needs.   Again, while you're genetic tendency is polygamy, hers is monogamy - she expects to get whatever she needs in a relationship from YOU.   From a societal perspective, you act as and are seen as a couple, so even then there is a tendency to assume a partnership and partnerships tend to equalize unless you put much effort in to keeping the imbalance.   Further, as you bond with her, it becomes progressively harder to take the steps necessary to put her in her "place" and remind her that she is in your life as a possession, valuable to be sure, but never the less a possession - and not as a partner.   As known, familiarity does breed contempt and as they see you as a person, with flaws and weaknesses that they will usually come to find adorable, they will, (as unwillingly for her as for you) come to see you as a bit less of the power figure that you would both ideally like.  

Can you keep enough emotional distance that this bonding does not overshadow your control? Perhaps, depending on how strong you are.   Maintaining that emotional distance will at times, hurt her.   Sometimes deeply.   Probably, if you're human, not any more deeply than it hurts you to do it, but they have the advantage of being able to show you their hurt while you, to some extent, must keep your emotions in check.   If at your job, you work elbow to elbow with the boss, there is always a tendency to treat him as one of you and it can be QUITE uncomfortable for everyone when it comes time for him to remind you that he is not, nor will ever be, an equal.   Moreover, in the other extreme, if your boss remains distant enough to ALWAYS be thought of as the boss first and foremost, you will tend to form your friendship bonds with other coworkers, and to an extent, leaving the boss out of your social life.   If you are or ever have been a parent, you know the danger of being your child's "friend" but sometimes the emotional hurt of having to be only the "parent" Owning a submissive can be the best ....   and the worst ...   of all these circumstances.  

So what's the conclusion? I'm not there is one ...   at least, not a one size fits all.   If you allow your submissive to thrive and grow until one day, she finds that she has outgrown you and needs to find a stronger person to continue her growth, then you have been a good parent.   You may condition your submissive to not be able to function without a Master.   Perhaps it would always be "nice" for her to have a Master she loves ..   but regardless it is IMPERATIVE that she at least HAVE a Master .....   then you have been a good slave-maker.   The question is not whether or not you should choose either course of action or something inbetween.   The question is "what criteria should you use to make such a decision?"

It would be nice to make that decision based solely on what YOU want ....   but that, contrary to popular belief, is not the most important thing for a Dominant.   No, what you WANT is a decision you get to make, from the options available AFTER you do what you MUST do .....   and that gets back to finding out what your submissive needs in order to be whole.  

For at the core of it all, Power comes with the horrible requirement of RESPONSIBILITY. Power must always do the RIGHT THING, otherwise it is not Power, it is terror.   Power must do what is in the submissive's best interest.   Make her (or more correctly enable her to make HERSELF) into what it is that she must be in order to be happy.   Certainly Power gets to take it's own comfort from time to time.   Power can, and should, require that the submissive endure something not of her own taste and choosing and perhaps even distasteful, since submission to pleasure is hardly submission.   Power may even require her to do something that hurts her, as long as the hurt does not destroy part of her .....   but in the end, Power must do what is best for HER.   Even if that means letting her go.   Or making her a robot.   Or making her your Queen.   So how do you know, if perhaps even SHE doesn't know? Well, that's the trick.   That's what separates a Dominant from a Top or a Wannabe.   And even worse news:

Life is a bitch of a teacher.   She gives you the test first and only after you find if you passed or failed do you get the lesson.  

In most cases you'll only know if your decision was right after you've seen the results.