Rebel with a Cause

Often when we hear the word "Rebel" or "Rebellious" our thoughts go to a negative place. We think of children exhibiting wild behavior, wearing all black or refusing to get a good, steady job. Depending on your age, when you see the title of this blog, you might think of James Dean in Rebel withOUT a Cause. Great movie. If you've never seen it, you should. I think it's possible he invented being cool.

Well, let's define 'rebel' based on the dictionary:

adjective

1. showing a desire to resist authority, control, or convention.

Hmmm...still think it's a bad thing? I think it sounds amazing. But remember, I have issues. Or perhaps my "issues" aren't "issues" at all. Maybe there is a reason it resides so deep in my heart. 

I've been rebellious as long as I remember. If everyone was doing it, I wanted to do the opposite. If I was "supposed" to do something, it made me REALLY not want to do it. Or if it was something I wasn't supposed to to...well, I might just have to do it cause you told me not to.

In my younger days this caused me to do some really stupid things. Which I will not go into now.  But then I got to thinking why I am this way? Still? I'm an adult. No parental control left over me. So, why is it such a part of who I am? 

There might be a profound purpose other than just to buck the system.

I heard about an interview Roger Hammerstein did about the musical South Pacific. I remember watching South Pacific when I was a kid. Several times. I thought it was great and I loved the music. It was okay-ed by my parents and other adults as good, wholesome family entertainment. Although back then I didn't pick up on the messages in the story. It is largely about racism/ inter-racial marriage and the hardships and life choices made by soldiers oversees during WWII. Because of many of these messages, around the time it was released certain states refused to support it due to it's "liberal message".
Hammerstein was a rebel.

You know what I like? The right to vote. I also like the ability to own land and property.
Think about the women (and men) that spoke out against what was "normal" and ahem..."resisted authority" in the Women's Suffrage movement.
Susan B.Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton and Amelia Bloomer were rebels.

Some of the same rebels from the Women's movement went another step further in breaking away from "convention" and believed people should not be treated differently due to the color of their skin in the Civil Rights movement. 
Martin Luther King Jr. was a rebel.

I know in this day and time these concepts seem so obvious. So normal. But think back to what they had to overcome. Their families, their upbringing. What they had been told their whole lives was right and wrong.

I wonder if I would have had the strength, foresight, and bravery to be a rebel then...

So, to all you fellow rebels out there...let's find our cause. There is a reason it's in you. It is probably an incredible reason. So, let's stop running from it, trying to pretend it isn't there. Let's embrace it and see what happens!