Rebel with a Cause
I have a birthday today. It’s not a milestone birthday but still, birthdays are times of reflection. How far I have come in my 68 years! This birthday coincides closely with a couple of important events. Our family is hosting the 12th annual Jay Chapman Memorial Golf Tournament on October 8. I love thinking how much Jay himself would enjoy this occasion. If only he could be present! He will be there in our hearts and minds. There is still time to participate – Go here to learn more about Jay and the event https://www.georgiajanet.com/?page_id=367
Another event is my 50th High School Reunion. This has surely brought on overwhelming reflection, and a lot of it has to do with my high school experience and the different ways classmates understand and interpret that experience. My high school mascot was The Rebels. That term, though controversial now, was not so much then. In fact, my class (1971) was the last of Joseph E. Brown High School to be called the Rebels. The following year, the school mascot was changed to The Jaguars. Today, although the beautiful classical building, constructed in the 1920s, still stands, the school no longer exists except in the hearts and minds of those who carry on its character. The building houses the Herman J. Russell West End Academy Middle School and their mascot is The Bulldogs. I have no issues with any of that. BTW, you all know I like song lists. I researched a list of songs that have the word Rebel in the title and/or lyrics. Go to the news and events page to see the list.
I hate that the term rebel, for so many people, has a singular definition. Like the word liberal, in the recent past it has been appropriated as a political football. If you check Merriam Webster- it will explain that the original word meaning for liberal was a free man, generous, abundant, not bound by authoritarianism, bighearted, unselfish. How has that mutated to mean something else? Something so many people find disgusting, vile, and un-American?
Same with the word rebel. Again, check Merriam Webster. It defines the noun rebel as one who rebels or participates in a rebellion, giving examples of opposing one in authority, one’s government, conventions of society, or even to feel or exhibit anger at the injustice of life. Weren’t our American patriots the ultimate rebels? They fought for the freedoms we have today and against the unfairness of rulers across an ocean governing them without representation. Should it not be considered admirable to fight against that which one deems to be immoral or unjust? Yet, the term rebel, like the term liberal, has been hijacked too. It is mostly used today to refer to the soldiers of the brief-lived Confederate States of America, a collection of eleven states that seceded from the United States in 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Otherwise, it is used to describe current day opposition groups throughout the world that oppose sitting governments, be they just or unjust.
I have never thought of rebel as a political term, but as a characteristic. I have a Pinterest board called Rebel at Heart but you won’t find confederate flags there. You will find memes and quotes about standing up for what is right, moral, and just. There are references to not following the crowd, making your own decisions, and not being swayed by massive public opinion or media. It encourages getting the facts, being an independent thinker, and standing up for that which one believes.
Unlike the infamous Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, modern day rebels should have a cause. Some examples of modern day rebels might be the minimalists who rebel against our culture of greed and materialism. Another modern day rebel might be one who avoids the use of plastics that could ultimately harm our environment. Still another might be the rebel who refuses to blindly accept whatever news is thrown out there on the internet to disparage others. Oh that we all might be such rebels!
I could not be proud to be a rebel if it meant I supported slavery, un-Americanism, or hatred. But, I am proud to be a rebel if it means rebelling against injustice and hate in this world. I am proud to be a rebel if it means speaking out against the forces that are destroying our environment. I am proud to be a rebel if it means standing up for the unpopular opinion that a child is a child from the moment of conception. I am proud to be a rebel if it means acknowledging that all men and women are created equal, regardless of ethnicity, creed, or sexual orientation. I am proud to be a rebel if it means using the brain God gave me to seek wisdom, the heart he gave me to love all mankind, and the spirit he gave me to seek him. I am proud to be a rebel!
So what do you think? Are you a Rebel? Could you become the right kind of Rebel? Please respond in a comment below.