I Dreamed Up An Answer

My best friend, Rob (please forgive the superlative, but it’s true), called me as I was trying to fall asleep last night. Thanks, Rob! He’d read yesterday’s post and apparently didn’t get enough of the gory details. In the course of our conversation he reminded me that I’ve always had a problem with authority. What’s that all about?

I thought about it as I drifted into slumber, and here’s the answer my subconscious generated overnight. I defy authority that expects me to be subservient. I celebrate authority that regards me as an equal and seeks my cooperation. Put more vernacularly, I’m nobody’s nigger. I can honestly say that I’ve never argued with an authority that has treated me with the same respect it expects in return, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll fight to the death anyone who doesn’t realize that they put their pants on one leg at a time just like I do. I don’t know what to call people like Boenhoeffer, Schweitzer, etc, but for lack of a better word I regard them as my heroes. One such person is John Lennon, and I admire his ability to capture in words how I feel:

Working Class Hero
by John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me