10 Negative but Important Vices for Life: Being a Rebel

 If you cannot rebel. You cannot repel.

If you cannot rebel, you cannot repel people who want nothing but the worst of you.

I am writing this post on a warm afternoon. It is the first of June, and some people are in their air-conditioned rooms, feeling as uncomfortable as a poor child without food. Does not sound sensible, right? How can the poor child be of any equal to a child in an AC room with a world-class phone and first-class parents?

You know, rebellion is seen as a state of character which needs to be subdued, control and better deleted. A hero can be rebellious, but in films or in the house next door. Nobody wants their relative to be rebellious. Nobody wants a person who says a clear NO without any reason to it. 

But, not having a reason to say NO and yet saying it is a rare skill. Knowing that you do not like the approach of certain things in life and not minding to have a reason to justify people is needful. Rebellion is needful when the world is mystified to run on a chase without a reason. No actually, they have a reason- Because everybody is doing it. 

So, when you say- I don't want this, because I don't like it, personal reasons, People do not understand it. It sounds Greek to them, scripted in Mandarin. When a poor child rebels of not having food and wants to earn a better living, he is seen as a rebel. A rebel who is trying to unfollow the ways of his world. When a rich child rebels of having to be happy- he is seen as a rebel. A rebel who is trying to mock the comforts of his life. A rebel who is ingrate, who does not care of the good shiny wrappers. 

Even a rich or well-provided person can be unhappy; who are we to judge? What do we know of the whirlpool inside his head?

This is a very basic example. It does not have to suit the customs of your life. How you rebel- is what you repel. 

Think of a social custom, in your country that you do not understand. Why it is so? If it does not hurt you- it can exist. 

But think of sati-pratha, dowry or claims of alimony. They have cost people their lives. 

The first ones to speak up their mind to change them are- revolutionaries. The first to rebel. The first rebellion then was Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He was the one who stood against this custom which had suddenly found its way in the society not because of any religious scripture. As my history teacher had told us in the classroom- he believed that sati-pratha must have begun when a woman who loved her husband dearly jumped into the fire alive and gave up her life. Then, that woman just became an ideal wife, or let's say an ideal widow, overnight. And then, every widow was conditioned in an approach to give up their life and show their devotion by jumping on the pyre for her dead husband. 

There is no evidence to this story. Sir was just sharing his assumption. I am sharing my POV. Not to forget, Lord W Bentick who supported Roy in his great discourses. 

Dowry too was a custom where the parents of a girl showered their love through materialistic gifts that later became an obligation and.... you know already. 

As the cases of the world has been now, Alimony too has become a way of oppression to men which was only an approach to secure a good life for a woman who was deserted by her husband. In fact, alimony is an approach for discouraging men from deserting their wives. Anyways. 

The point here is not asking you to end a social custom. The point here is letting you know that rebellion is not a phase of life that has to pass for you to become sensible. It is a state of life- which can stay in you as a personality and help you take a stand for yourself when the world is not in your best favour. You can think of rebellion as a hammer, as the great Mjolnir, of Thor. Marvel fans would know that Thor never needed his Mjolnir to be powerful, but he needed Mjolnir so that he could control his power. 

I guess, it would be better if we assume rebellion as a state of power. You just need the right approach, the right technique to wield this power and make good use of it- for yourself and the world. 

Right now I feel so cluttered inside my head, that I am not even writing this to give you a clarity, but rather to have a clearer head.

I have been given good advices. And my approach to it has been lately like this-

Some call this my rebel phase. I just call it, my ace phase.

Every person who tells you, that they have their best interest in their head for you while giving you advice- mind you- they are only thinking what they think is right. It does not have to work for you. So, you do not need to follow it too. 

Be a rebel. Be a Cyclone. 

Be the eye of the Cyclone. Repel things that do not favour you. While you stay calm, let the world be swayed in your storm. It is your story- no one else gets to narrate it for you.