Damn the Man, Save the Empire

Well, it is nearing on finals week, so blogging has taken a massive back seat. But when a thought sticks in my head, it just needs to come out.

So my title, it already makes me kind of a hypocrite here. Being a college professor, in many situations, I am The Man. But hey, let's take this out of the sphere of my professional life and into my personal life and this fabulous experience of reconstruction and self actualization.

I do not like rules. Let's just call it rebellion or a healthy distrust for people in positions of authority. I've read 1984, V for Vendetta, Fahrenheit 451, and they have made me very suspicious of anyone trying to make rules for me. That's what I really dislike about rules, is people trying to impose their rules on me. I strongly believe in a Generation X term Me-Ism. A Me-Ism is a formulated, personally tailored set of rules, boundaries, and social behaviors that guide that individuals life. This can incorporate religions, new age mysticism, astrology, or just passages from Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac books. Building my own Me-Ism and keeping to it is really important to me. So when people try to impose their arbitrary rules on me, I reflexively start to chafe and kick back.

When I did my two year Mormon mission, the rules were a tough pill to swallow. The Missonary Training Center (MTC) was a larger culture shock than Korea was. Eventually you get use to keeping those rules, they become second nature. What I refused to swallow, was the rules that other missionaries decided to invent and impose on my day to day routine. In the MTC, they had something called Quiet Dignity. Basically, Quiet Dignity means don't be an ass. Don't scream, yell, be vulgar, or other things that would make you look uneducated, boorish, barbaric, or, the worst stereotype of being 19 years old and American. Now, some missionaries decided that Quiet Dignity means that you must shave every inch of humanity off from yourself. One windy day in the MTC I was walking to lunch. Unknown to me the wind had blown my tie up over my shoulder. Some missionary I had never seen before decided to stop me he put both hands on my shoulders put my tie back into place and said loudly so that other missionaries could see the size of his spirit and said "Quite Dignity Elder, Quiet Dignity". Now, my first urge was to punch the smug little boy in the throat, but I didn't. Little did I know, that was just the first time I would deal with this.

Even a decade after my mission, I still have people trying to impose their rules on me. I've been told there's something wrong with me for all of the following reasons: Drinking Dr. Pepper, watching movies rated R, not being married by 25, reading books, listening to music, voting Democrat, not voting Republican, not being a registered Republican, being an English teacher, buying Magic cards, buying comic books, buying records, buying books...look, the list goes on.

Here's the problem with other people's rules, you can never keep them. They will confront you in their passive aggressive way, "Do you know what that movie is rated?" There is no correct answer, they do not want an answer. They want you to know you are in the wrong and have broken their rule. No matter how hard you try and twist, wedge, or cram yourself into their rules, you can never do it. You will always be in the wrong. Live your rules, live your life, and be the best you you can be. Yeah, I know that's a rule. So hey, take it or leave it.

I'm still building my Me-Ism. I'm forging my own rules for dating, personal relationships, spirituality, and life in general. And it is great. Because, at the end of all this, they are my dates, my relationships, and most importantly, my spirituality. So yes, I will do things that make other people upset, that will make them shake their head and wonder what is wrong. To them I say Damn the Man, Save the Joe Willis Empire!