Pride and Prejudice

Every moment is both unique yet following a pattern of moments past. Like frost on a window.

This is my first stretch of real freedom from studying in over eighteen years. I'm that child kept in low light for a stretch of days and nights only to have the overhead light flicked on, which initiates the blinking. I'm blinking at the world with the same eyes that were looking before, but everything has a different quality.

I can commit to going to a show because not only do I have free time, but I have money that does not need to be saved and budgeted for the dark hours of midterms and finals. I spent all of yesterday sketching one idea, and guilt would start to settle in for procrastinating before I'd realize that there was nothing to put off.

~

I was reading Another Roadside Attraction during the lunch break of my RN exam, and I came across an interesting interaction between the characters, that relates to respect and authority.

People that are older demand respect, often for the simple fact that they ARE older and have gone through more life. That phrase right there has a lot incorrect about it already. You can go through more life in five years than twenty, and age is relative.

One of the key points that I have heard used in argument for respecting someone is that they fought in a war, or suffered through tough times. That we should appreciate said sacrifice. "I risked my life so that you could live in this free country". I'd like to pause right there for a second to explore that statement.

Being a member of any armed forces was often mandatory. When it wasn't mandatory, it was encouraged, glorified. Fathers were proud of their sons for fighting for their country, girls were attracted to men in uniform. Overall, the individuals were commended for their choice. One might even say it was the right thing to do.
When an overwhelming mass of people determine that something is "right" or "good", is it really that much of a risk to partake? Yes, your life is risked. But not the respect of your community, not the love of your peers or your own ideals and principles. You don't risk your soul.
People that die in battle for their country are revered. They "made the ultimate sacrifice" and are regarded as heroes, as martyrs and are expected to spend their afterlife in the glory of paradise.
I'm not arguing that risking one's life is easy. I'm arguing that there are more difficult and much more important qualities to risk.

To me, the people that go against the grain, even though they'd lose respect, trust or ideals are far more worthy of respect. Its easy to believe what the masses believe or to follow. It is difficult to speak against the norm, and initiate change despite a world of opposition.

This leads to why authority should not necessarily elicit respect, but should earn it. Authority helps create social mores. The ebb and flow of daily life and "common sense" are determined by a combination of authority and how little people are willing to create a fuss. Authority is only that because we allow them to be. Authority is nothing without followers. Authority rarely demands that we respect anything other than what authority provides.

Authority makes it difficult to have an opposing viewpoint. I'm not on that bandwagon of the authorities keeping us down. If we are down, it is because we allow ourselves to be. Respect should be earned, and should not be given easily to the first individuals who speak louder than the rest. Because volume does not equal quality. If that were the case, every bully in every playground would be made class president and make the other children afraid.

Within the book, Amanda is speaking with an FBI agent, and the agent is explaining why America is the greatest country in the world, always has been always will be, and Amanda points out that Tibet had been civilized for at least six millenia before America had ever been "discovered". He becomes very belligerent, and she offers him some custard, to avoid negative confrontation.

Pride drives our weaknesses. If we can humble ourselves enough to learn, enough to be open to other ideas we would become stronger. And respect would become a quiet affair associated more with wisdom than with fear.