Since we were young we’ve been raised as a society to be obedient to authority. Whether it’s our parents, teachers or our government, we do not question their authority.
We’ve been raised to follow orders, no questions asked. Our parents and teachers praise us if we listen to them and scold us if we talk back. If we question their authority, we are told they know what’s best for us. Sound familiar?
So why do we so willingly oblige? Especially now as adults, why do we struggle to stand up for ourselves and for our people? Maybe it’s because all our lives we have been rewarded for such ‘good’ obedient behaviour and this mentality is so hard to unlearn. The Sri Lankan culture rates obedience so highly, that all of us fear confronting authority.
But maybe its not just about being rewarded for obedience, maybe it’s because we know that by doing as we are told, we are protecting ourselves from the responsibility of our actions? How easy is it to rid yourself of the guilt if you were only doing as you were told?
By taking initiative and standing up for ourselves, our families and our country we have suddenly stepped away from the behaviour we’ve been praised for all our life. This is why we struggle as a nation to stand up to authority, to stand against what is wrong because we don’t want to take responsibility for the consequences whether it’s good or bad. We want someone else to blame.
But is this really what we want to teach our children? Is this really the culture we want our future generations to be raised in? Don’t you think it’s time we finally stand up for ourselves and be apart of the change?
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