How to Cultivate a Respect for Authority and Still Be Cool
The timeless principle of Respect for Authority
This is one in a series of essays that was originally conceived as a book for print publication. If you enjoy it and would like to read more from the collection, you can find a sort of Table of Contents here.
I know I’m risking putting the kibosh on any level of “cool” I may have accumulated thus far, but that’s never held me back from speaking my mind before.
We live in a world that struggles constantly with a very strange paradox: we chafe at the authority others have over us while simultaneously working to gain authority over others. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?
For instance, clerks and secretaries in an office will gather around a water cooler gabbing about how unfair, stupid or oblivious their mutual boss has proven himself to be. And yet, they would gladly take the boss’s job in a heartbeat if it were offered. Maybe they somehow assume all the water cooler talk would disappear if they were in the corner office.
It’s really a losing battle that constantly pits everyone against their superiors which, whether they realize it or not, also pits them against their peers because everyone is vying to replace the one they’re rallying against.
