I recently come across this piece in the Atlantic through my dear homies at the new stand and the title immediately grabbed my attention. “The Case for the Rebel,” Ashley Lamb-Sinclair, a teacher, talks about the inconvenience of the class clown, the trouble maker. Noting that over the years, although they gave her more grey hairs than anyone else, it was always the rebels that were the idea makers because they challenged the status quo. They were fearless and bold. Just as her colleagues, she noted, would “often intentionally break rules if it means a better education for the students in their classroom” [which of course recalls one of the greatest films ever made] yet didn’t recognize that the students who were doing the same thing were punished.
“Most teachers,” she said, “noted that self-control and cooperation were the most important indicators of school success,” rewarding the so-called soft skills. This is the educational system we grew up in, and the workplaces to which we now sell our souls. Follow the rules. Fit the mold. Graciously accept this 2% raise because you’re lucky to have a job. Work late so they think you’re important. Leave your dignity at the door, you’ll get it back with your retirement package… you know, when you lack the audacity and energy to use it properly.
This piece gave me hope because this has always been me. A rebel with a cause, I’d like to think. Even now as an “adult”, I really fucking love getting in trouble. I crave mischief. I kept thinking this would fade with age, that the thrill of sneaking out of the house would dissipate once I no longer had a curfew. That petty theft would wane into no theft at all once I could fully comprehend the risk. That marijuana would simply be a gateway to not being tempted by drugs anymore. That a harmless game of spin the bottle would be the closest I ever got to cheating on someone.
If anything, this temptation has increased with age. If you don’t have a house to sneak out of, rules to disobey, class to skip, a fake ID to test…. you find edgier and more dangerous ways to cause trouble. When my dad told me that he held the record for streaking, “five dates in five days! never been beat.” I didn’t see it as a weird dad college story, I saw it as a challenge. I knocked it out of the park, streaking five states in one day, and I’m pretty sure that’s never been beat. (And yes, that is a challenge.) I showed up for a wedding last summer with paint still lingering in the creases of my fingernails. “Crafting?” someone asked. “No, I was tagging something at 4am this morning.” I was almost not allowed back in the country because I had a warrant out for my arrest for not paying a ticket I got for drinking a beer on the street because I thought the ticket was dumb. Still do. Still drinkin’ on the street.
I read this piece and finally I felt like my mischief wasn’t met with a disappointed stare from my mother as she picked up the phone and realized it was my teacher calling, again. Defiance should be encouraged. And no, I am not campaigning for complete anarchy here so everyone stop rolling your eyes. I’m just saying that the system only works because we buy into it. We were founded as a nation of rebels. Back then, the system didn’t work and so we stopped buying into it. Historically, we have always been encouraged by “troublemakers” who turn into leaders because no one is hanging onto the coat tails or following in the wake of a meek, compliant, nervous follower. Seek defiance. Shake things up. Because we’re meant for more than petty rules and mindless busy work.
The rebels in the world are often the ones who change it the most.
Quit your day job. We were not made to mindlessly enter numbers into excel spreadsheets that ultimately add up to a paycheck’s worth of hours spent working toward someone else’s dream. And hey, some people are totally fine with doing this type of work, and that is fantastic, and even enviable. To be satisfied in complacency isn’t something to look down upon. But if you were born with this fire in your heart, do something unexpected.
Buy a one way ticket. Shake up your lifestyle. Because if you don’t do it now, when will you? Go. Go now. Don’t wait for everything to line up perfectly before you commit. Don’t wait to be financially secured. Don’t wait for the perfect time in your life to go because that time will never come. Don’t ask people for advice because they will likely discourage you. Just go.
Do what they don’t want you to do. Because they only thing that has ever really culminated into is a fresh new crop of “they’s” anyway. Move up the corporate ladder, where every rung is well-worn! Get to the top and then look down, satisfied! Because this, of course, is success!
“I recently heard on the radio a state legislator speaking of the importance of developing “soft skills” for the workforce. He elaborated on the merits of understanding the importance of a firm handshake, showing up 10 minutes early, and being a “team player.” As I listened to him, I thought these were admirable traits—traits that my own father tried desperately to instill in me, which I generally ignored—but they were mostly values held by an older generation.”
Seek defiance, because you’ve come a long way, baby. Don’t stop now.
Oh, and get into some fucking trouble. Be a rebel with a cause, a mission, an unwavering belief that you’re meant for something more. And if you’re trying to find ways to get involved in some trouble… well… I’m accepting applications.
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