Problems with Authority

OK, I admit it. I have had some problems with authority in my life. In fact, I find that I even have a little bit of a problem with being told what to write about. Say, in a UU Carnival even! I noticed that one of the things I love about my blog versus other writing opportunities is that I can write about what ever I want. Whatever comes to mind. Oh, the freedom. I definitely have issues left from my creativity-killing public school education. By the time, I was a senior in high school my rebellion had taken shape in a war of the wills with my homeroom teacher, Mr. Wright. Ah, yes. I remember him well. I showed up late every day. And every day he gave me detention. I was never going to give him the satisfaction of winning. And neither was he. It was a quiet pact. I walked in while he was calling roll, and when he saw me he said, "Miss Wood, detention." I never flinched.

My resistance actually served me well when peer pressure to take drugs began. In spite of hanging out with kids who regularly took drugs, I never caved. I had this gut-level reaction to being pressured. It totally turned me off. No one was going to tell me what to do! Now, you might have the idea that I'm some intense rebel type of chick. Most people who know me would be shocked at the idea. I come across as quite compliant and friendly most of the time. And many times it is a quite rebellion that I mount. It is not a violent or chaotic rebellion. I do not desire to take any prisoners or leave any casualties in my wake. Just a clear knowing that I am the authority of this mind and I am perfectly willing to let you know where I stand.

And I was always a questioner. It was this tendency that led me to ultimately find Unitarian Universalism. There were just certain ideas that I was being taught that from an early age didn't sit well with me. There was no convincing me that if a baby born in a religion other than Christianity died, it would not be going to heaven. I could not see how it made sense for someone who was the embodiment of all that is good to go to hell because that person was not Christian. As I began to be exposed to wisdom from other religions, I couldn't understand the logic in rejecting it because it wasn't in the Bible. It continued until my thinking had expanded and outgrown the ideas that I grew up with and I felt that I had no religious home. That is until I found Unitarian Universalism. What an amazing moment that was for me. I found a place for people of faith who dared to question. A religion that not only knows that questioning is a natural instinct, but that it is the cherished right of an individual. I am a person of faith and a person of her own authority.

Written for UU Carnival #8: Authority