#Mywordfortoday is #Rebellion
In May 1803, about 75 Igbo slaves (the Igbos are principally from the Eastern part of Nigeria) who were being transported via a coastal vessel "the York" which was to take them to St. Simmons Island, revolted by capsizing the vessel, drowning their captors and themselves.
By so doing, they accepted death over being enslaved. It is fitting to tell this rather sad story today, as we write about Rebellion; it is also fitting because this happened in May.
🙏🏾 May their souls and that of all others tragically snatched away continue to rest.
When we talk about Rebellion, we would usually think about the negative connotation of the word.
Rebellion enjoys infamous negativity alongside words like "cohort and ambition" etc.
It brings to mind an "insurrection or a stance of disobedience against authority.
However, we all know that rebellion isn't always a dirty word. Is rebellion always an Insurrection? yes, I do believe so. But is it always violent, I think not.
If not for the rebellion of the likes of those poor Igbo Slaves, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and a host of others, our history as black people held in the throes of slavery, racism and segregation may have not changed.
Rebellion makes us understand how the world thinks, and how society wants us to behave.
It is funny that the world wants you "to go against the grain" and "stand out", but if you do go against the grain, and attempt to be a non-conformist, the society many times, hold it against you.
Society says one thing, and mean another
Rebellion in my view is a necessary part of our lives if we would be happy with ourselves without any regret. Rebellion is standing against the status quo antebellum.
Even the Rebels that wrestle against authorities and governments tend to do so because they are convinced that there is a better path, other than that been taken by the extant authority or governments.
There is indeed something about the nature of rebellion that
We will usually hear stuff like "the only thing constant in life is change", but does Society really want change? As it does everything just so that change does not come to pass. It is tragic.
Every entrepreneur (In Tech, Finance, etc) in my opinion, is a rebellious changemaker, for if they did not have enough courage to push forward with the ideas they had conceived, we would be missing out on a lot of amazing stuff. Through this brave and amazing individuals, we are able to revolutionize our thinking and our way of life in general.
I remember watching an ad of the first Mercedes-Benz automobile. The video had a woman entering a rustic little village in order to get fuel. Boos of "witch, witch" were shouted at her because people could not fathom that (a) one could move on another mode of transportation other than a horse, and (b) it was driven by a "mere" woman.
Circa 19th Century, South-South Nigeria, a young "rebellious" missionary woman called Mary Slessor stopped the killing of twins who were hitherto thought to be evil and so were left in the evil forest to die.
History is replete with such rebellious humans who through the sheer force of will revolutionize life as we knew it.
So in my view, being unafraid to use your personality, your uniqueness and skills in a world that appears to enjoy sameness is Rebellion.
Rebellion takes courage, a willingness to be picked upon without budging. Every rebellious person is a courageous person.
I do believe Society is afraid of Rebels because they (the Rebels) force society to drop all the facade of proper behaviour, this then makes the society so nervous. Remember, the Chinese Doctor who first broke the news of a new, potentially deadly virus?
They are so invested in "this is how we do it" and so, changes to that world order upset them a lot. As a rebel leader, I love it.
To be quite frank, there is no better time as these COVID-19 times, to rebelliously innovate the way we live our lives, the way we do governance, the way we treat the environment, and how economies are being run; after-all, crisis when written in Chinese is composed of two characters: danger and opportunity.
Perhaps the best thing I love about rebellion is that it is usually sparked off by nonconformity and creativity, by the dislike of group-thinking and go-alongnism.
Every society needs these brave, imperfect people to reiterate that life is not one-way traffic, life is not black and white, and we all cannot be the same. Society needs to allow us to thrive in our creative differences. Society needs to be less hypocritical.
What positive change would you make in life around you today? Do it, you might be changing the course of history as others did before you.
They would call it Rebellion, we call it disruption.
Bibireosefowora💘
Total conformity is a sign of weakness. Be your thought and let your thoughts be you. Never swallow every pill, that makes you a true being
ReplyDelete