Rebel Without a Cause

This isn’t going to be a long post. Nor is it going to be like the ones I usually write. Something just happened that made me think about this and I wanted to get it off my chest.

Rules are meant to be broken

I’ve never been one for rules. You tell me I’m not supposed to do something without giving me a good reason, and I’ll do it just to spite you. Especially if you’re someone who’s in anyway above me in the social hierarchy — be it a teacher, a boss or even a parent. I’ve always had a problem with authority and have been a rebel without a cause for as long as I can remember.

I have been in trouble more times than I can count for breaking rules. I’ve been kicked out of the class for talking back to the teacher, I’ve been put in front of a whole school assembly for not saying the morning prayer and as I wrote about in my last post, I’ve been refused a job for having the audacity to expect my boss to treat me like a human being.

But I’ve never regretted any of it. I’ve never regretted standing up for what I believe in, even if it meant breaking a few rules along the way. Is there a way to register your protest without breaking the rules? Sure and I always try to do that first. But remember — the rules were designed by the very people you are protesting — they were designed specifically to protect the status quo.

I don’t wish to harp on my previous post, but I think it’s a good example of what I’m talking about. I tried to raise my concerns through the official channels, but they were ignored. So I did what I had to do. I did the silliest of things to annoy them. I turned everything into a spectacle and made sure the entire office knew that it was my last day.

Did it change anything? Obviously not. But I’ve realized that the best way to annoy authority is by making them feel completely powerless over you. You cannot — you literally cannot — argue with someone who refuses to listen.

The one rule to rule them all

But despite what I said above, there is one rule I have always believed in. One rule I refuse to break. And that’s to never punch down.

I think my feelings about it can be pretty much explained by this Dumbledore quote

“Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”

– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This quote might be about age but it maps to everything really — if you’re reading this, I imagine you’re relatively well off. Answer this — have you ever lost temper or spoken rudely to someone who was in a lower social position than you? Maybe a waiter, a janitor, a security guard or even a junior at work?

I’m not here to judge you. I’ve done it a handful of times you — we’re all human after all. But every time I’ve done it, I’ve tried to make amends.

This is not to say don’t fight back. Just make sure you’re fighting with someone who can actually take a punch. Even when you’re right, what use is it to fight with a waiter who’s just following orders? Or a delivery boy who’s just trying to make a living?

I end this post with another quote from Harry Potter. This time from Sirius Black

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

– Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I think that’s a good rule to live by. And I hope you do too.