Today, I was working at Dippin' Dots in Seven Peaks scooping ice cream for people.
It's not such a bad job: you really just sit inside a small, air-conditioned shack and scoop ice cream for several hours. Honestly, sitting in an air-conditioned room for my job helping people is much better than sitting in a hot apartment all day while bored to death.
Anyway, I heard something I thought was really funny while I was running an errand. These two kids go running past me carrying a 2-seater tube and one of them yells out, "I don't care about that sign that says please walk instead of run!" Then, they just continue running on their way to wherever they were going.
I wasn't even sure what to take from this. The kid had basically just yelled out to everybody he didn't want to follow the rules. It just seemed so pointless. Honestly, it seems like such a simple thing, but I feel like it's an attitude which has infected our entire American culture. It's not unusual for people to blatantly disregard rules and announce to the whole world that what they are doing is blatant. Disregarding rules for the sake of showing your individuality and rebelliousness is something people commonly do because it seems like the cool thing to do. Ironically, by doing that, it seems they are actually just following a new norm of rebellious behavior, thus, going completely against their own intentions.
I recently saw a discussion on Facebook about whether it's okay to avoid saying the pledge of allegiance with everybody else. Isn't this the same argument? It's usually just somebody refusing to stand since they don't want to be like everybody else and want to show freedom of speech. Why would it be okay not to stand during the Pledge? What is the importance of freedom of speech if it's not something we're even willing to stand and support. Maybe if you're from another country, I'm not quite sure about that. However, it just doesn't make sense to me that so many people choose to do something for the sake of rebelling.
I'm fascinated by this point of view, nevertheless. Maybe somebody else could provide a better commentary than I do, I just sometimes wonder about the attitude our culture has taken toward blatant rebellion.
"What is the importance of freedom of speech if it's not something we're even willing to stand and support?" I like the way you put that. A great point. And I agree, that it seems like most people who make a fuss about not wanting to stand or say the pledge of allegiance or wanting to take the words "under God" out are just making a big, useless fuss.
ReplyDeleteThere is one group I know of whose decision not to stand during the pledge of allegiance I support. My best friend since age 2 is a Jehovah's Witness. I have a lot of respect for them, because they are very different, live their lives very differently, and are very quiet about it. My friend was always really quiet in elementary school about not standing for the pledge of allegiance, or not going to holiday assemblies. It wasn't that she's against our country. She loves our country. She (or was it her mother?) explained to me once that the reason they don't stand is because to do so would be like worshipping the flag. They worship Christ, and no one else. I think that's a really cool perspective and totally respect it and support them in choosing to sit.
The difference between my friend and her family, is that they have always been content to sit and let everyone else do as they chose. My friend never once made a fuss about any of it. As long as she was allowed to do her own thing, she was totally fine with everyone else doing their own thing. Including having holiday parties, assemblies, and celebrating flag day.