Nathan Surkes

         
          The sole purpose of our government of our government is to protect , preserve, and serve its nations citizen population. Although our American government has taken tremendous strides towards prosperity and we as a nation stand as a notorious first world powerhouse, we are far from the utopian society that our propaganda would suggest to the outer world and the more uninformed citizens. For our conflicts lie deep in the roots of our beloved nation: our government. Government and political representatives state that all decisions and actions they take are entirely for the wellbeing of our beautiful nation. But what if that wellbeing comes at the citizens cost? Every war they declare, tax they enforce, and resource they expend, we are the ones that suffer the consequences. And however enforcing and unbreakable these political injustices may seem, we as Americans and human beings alike, posses the constitutional right to peacefully oppose our government through a variety of nonviolent methods to, get our point across, so to say. These oppositions can be categorized as, "Civil Disobedience." Acts of civil disobedience include, but are not restricted to, antiwar movements, employee strikes or boycotts, and , in more extreme situations, even militant acts of resistance in the form of revolts: which are a form of ," Direct action."
          Antiwar movements are acts of civil disobedience which publically oppose the national declaration of war or the recruitment of," War candidates," by applied force; drafts; or exaggerated persuasion." Just recently, a group of religious pacifists called the St. Patrick's Four, poured blood on a marine recruitment center to protest war on Iraq," as stated in," On Civil Disobedience: An Interview with Howard Zimm." This is civil disobedience at its finest. This metaphorical direct action brings awareness to the public of all the blood, sweat, and tears shed from all participants involved in war in a peaceful, nonviolent manner. The agony of war is felt all over the world by people who initially committed no wrongdoings, but merely, just following orders. We as people have virtually no say in our government's War Council's final decisions on on the wars we engage in, yet they expect us to send our beloved sons and daughters to distant lands for extended periods of time to fight bloody battles and convert their youthful imaginations and creativity to blind loyalty for a nobleman's tyranny based decisions. Completely absurd ironic injustice is what it is.
          "Money rules the world , and the world is run off transactions," as stated by Jodie in the movie," Baby Boy." Brushed off as fill-in garbage at first, but with a little contemplation, the insidious depth of his statements are revealed. Big business companies and corporations are the employers of tens of millions of loyal, hardworking citizens in the United States alone, yet our blue-collar employees seem to face the most hardship and uncertainty in today's society. though our government has again, taken tremendous strides in the right direction in improving blue-collar working conditions in the past, the majority, to this day, face the everyday struggles of overwhelming work hours and tasks,  hazardous and unsanitary work environments, and unstable job security on a daily basis. Worker unions have undoubtedly been proven to be highly effective in the improvement of working conditions in the past, but only so much. The rest is on us, through none other than civil disobedience, in the form of strikes, boycotts, and petitions, whose goal is to correct these injustices and provide clarity and stability to this nation's backbone: the humble, blue-collar men and women of today and tomorrow.
          Before we touch on the final aspect of civil disobedience, it helps to understand two things. First, is the simple fact that life is confusing. Noting is definite, nothing is known. It's all about perception, and even that is obscured by preferences and experiences, so its best not to overthink things and just try your best. The second, is the unity of opposites. Everything ever conceived, known and unknown, are known as entities, which is basically existence in the form of a noun. These entiti4s contain two mutually incompatible, yet indispensable aspects, making each entity auto dynamic and provides motivation for change and movement, as stated in the law of opposites. Basically, to every force, there is a polar opposite force of equal value. Yin-Yang, left and right, good and evil. Life is a complete contradiction and it helps to understand that. With that being said, let's take a look at these principals in the act. IN Spiderman, Uncle Ben says that," With great power comes great responsibility." While this statement is true in a sense, that does not mean the other statements of power are false. For John Acton once stated that," Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Both statements are true in a sense and they both provide us with a different perspectives on life, and our bias preferences mean nothing in the long run. We could probably agree that the government has the majority of the authority in our nation, and they do posses immense power that we probably don't comprehend fully, but at the same time, one could say that all that power corrupted them, and they corrupted us,  portrayed by our citizens obscured moral standards and monopolized social and economic structure. So, theoretically, our government is very powerful, and so, has an immense amount of responsibility. But at the same time, is it too drunk off that power to the point of corruption, so they don't really care? And unfortunately, our portrays of civil disobedience directed directly at our government are often overlooked or overruled for the apparent benefit of our nation as a whole. How the neglect of the individuals promotes the prosperity of the population as a whole, I will never know. These special situations, where major injustices aren't made right by our government due to its corruption and obscured perspective, occasionally produce the unpredictable product of civil disobedience in the form of public resistance, or revolution. Revolutions occur when the communities general population face an apparent public injustice or wrongdoing at the hands of their almighty government officials, either upfront of hidden within the darkness of America's mask.  Revolts stem from a wide variety of global issues, including racism, tyranny, and overall injustice. Revolts in the past have proven highly effective in increasing attention to the subject matter and showing how deeply the participants care for their cause, but have also proven to be very unpredictable and can get out of hand very, very quickly. However effective revolts have proven to be in the past, they do counteract themselves by the involvement of violence, which allows the victim to stoop down to the assailants level, which, in turn, counteracts the revolution in itself, rendering the entire being of the revolution in vain. Revolts are complicated, and should be mainly avoided and reserved for extremely special occasions. As the wise Mohamed Gandhi once said," An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." But at the same time, success is the best revenge, and revolts can be successful in a variety of different aspects. I digress.
          We as people deserve to have our opinions heard and considered in todays separated society. Our modus of reserving this human right is to express ourselves to our opposing government through civil disobedience. If people think something is wrong or unjust, they should know that their opinions matter just as much as anyone else's, no matter how miniscule they may seem in the overbearing face of the notorious Uncle Sam. For isn't that what America based her core values on: Equality? Everybody encounters opposition. From me writing this to you reading it, hopefully we can connect to the root conciseness. When problems and people  seemed immense and the solutions were endless, yet unattainable for the most part. Yes, i'm talking about high school. My present, your past, but they both happened and they both have been cemented deep in our beings of conciseness by experience and doused by time. I digress. For the initial experience was merely our perception, and that means nothing in the long run. what I want you to reminisce on is how it felt. From all the challenges we weren't ready for to all the things we did, and didn't accomplish for that matter. That feeling of confusion, with a hint of anxiety and a dash of depression. That's the feeling that desensitizes the soul. The fear of the unknown that crushes the innocence of the adolescents. Now, this interlude may seem quite pointless and blatantly desperate but so does the middle class mans dreams, or the single mothers aspirations, and a child's worst fears. The point being, that we all have the power to prosper within ourselves, and if we just realize that our current position in life is on us, and whatever problems we may encounter; being physical, mental, or spiritual; can be overcome completely. For me being a student to a school as you are a citizen to a nation. My schools problems are my problems , and your nations decisions affect you just the same.  The confusion cocktail stems from the confusion of the problem, and we just need a solution. With that being said, civil disobedience is the solution to not only the key to solving this nations internal conflict and problems, but also the key to people standing up to overwhelming opposition, and this skill will be passed down from the citizens of the nation to the students of the schools. Truly, I digress. Civil disobedience preserves our human rights.