Any civilized society has rules. Whether it is the law of the land, or the rules at school, we are expected to follow them, or live with the consequences. It seems more and more, parents aren’t teaching their children the responsibility to follow the rules and the fact they must live with the consequences if they don’t.
I saw a story on KTUL this morning where a student was suspended right after school started for wearing his hair way too long. This same student was suspended last April for the same reason. Apparently, it is against the rules for boys to wear their hair like this. Mom said that he should be able to stand up for what he believes in, so she’s taught him that much. But, she didn’t think he should suffer the consequences. There’s the fail. This country is full of examples of people standing up for what they believe in and affecting change, mostly positive, but they also suffered the consequences of their actions.
When this country was breaking away from England, many people stood against England and were imprisoned, or most likely killed. They knew this would be a consequence if they were captured, but they stood firm anyway. They were willing to accept the consequences of their actions.
The civil rights movement in this country was a great positive. Many people stood up for what they believed in; many people went to jail or were killed. They weren’t trying to avoid the consequences of their civil disobedience, but were willing to accept it. Without people willing to accept the consequences, we would never have made progress.
Parents should teach their children the responsibility to follow the rules. They should also teach their children how to affect change in rules or laws they don’t believe are just. Yes, stand up for what you believe in. If disobedience is the choice they make to get their point across, so be it. But, parents also need to teach their children there are consequences for their actions and they should decide if they can live with them before they act.
Most major change in this country was affected by those willing to take the responsibility to stand up for what they believe in and accept the consequences of their actions.
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