Obedience

John Ruskin, an author who critiqued art and architecture during the 1800's, is said to have had the following architectural ideals  --  obedience, truth, power, beauty, life, memory and sacrifice.  Good thing I'm not an architect because I can't fathom a building obeying anyone or anything.  How about you?  But then, obeying was never my greatest skill when I was young.  Don't misunderstand.  I wasn't one of those disobedient kids at school.  I did everything by the book there.  I even told on myself for slapping the kid that kissed me at recess.  It was first grade.


Nevertheless, I had a bad rep at home.  My mother found herself driven to exquisite forms of punishment over my "sassy" mouth.  It was so bad that one of my brothers told me that I had always been the most rebellious person he had ever known.  I told him I thought I'd always had a lot to rebel against.


Why is it people are told they need to obey everyone?  We got a stomach full of it at church.  We were to obey God, our parents, our teachers, our older neighbors, our older siblings and on and on and on.  "Trust and obey, for there's no other way. . ."


If our parents neglected to teach obedience, we got another goodly measure of it at school.   Come on little ducklings.  Get yourselves all in a row.  Even the birds assume a V formation.  Everyone in their place and a place for everyone.  Get back in that line.  Keep your lines straight.


Then when we get through twelve or thirteen years of conforming obedience, they start yelling for us to think outside the box.  Duh!


Mind your p's and q's.  Listen to your teacher.  Don't you dare stray from the group.  Take care of your "due diligence".  They take the creativity right out of life with all their rule making.  Federal law.  State law.  County, city, coop, school . . .  rules, rules, rules.  Well, you've got your rules so embedded that we almost flip out when someone runs into us because he is walking down the left side of a hallway.  Didn't he learn anything in school?


And then we have Mr. Ruskin saying a building needs to have obedience.  Really now!  Aren't you the original little ole control freak?  Even inanimate objects are required to obey you.  Or are they?  Inanimate, I mean!  A building stands there proudly, larger than life and exuding beauty, obedience, truth, power, life, memory and sacrifice . . .


. . . exuding "creativity", which from obedience doth not come.