"Free" Agency.

We watched this completely ridiculous movie in seminary. It was about this kid from the 80's who was all mad at his mom because she told him no when he asked to do something. At least, I think thats what happened. All I know is that he was all yelling at his room that was quite messy might I add, and then he threw his jacket in the 2 year old temper tantrum manner, only to have it land on his significantly better looking alter ego. At first, I thought he was one of those shoulder angels, you know the ones that always argue with the other shoulder angel, for comic relief? Yeah, I thought he was one of those, but life sized. But he just turned out to be this ridiculously good teacher of free agency. He made this incredible comparison of driving a reallllyyyyy nice car. Like the kind of car that makes you squeal before you even sit in it, much less turn it on. Anyways, this kid wanted drive that car at the speed it was meant to go at, or dang freaking haulin'. But there are speed limits! So devilishly good looking alter ego in a nice pair of Av's says, "Well, this is your dream, so lets make it have no rules!" And the speed limit sign disappeared. That kid took off, and heck, I would too! He gets down this road, and then this semi truck, or in other words, the stereotypical bad driver, comes roaring down HIS side of the road, and then kind of changes lanes right in front of the kid in the car, and right when they were about to die and stuff, POOF! They were magically back in the room. Now, the kid was all mad, cause he was having a good time! What nerve, what ghall! That truck driver had NO right to get in his lane. But then alter ego said, "Well, we took the rules away, so it wasn't the drivers fault. If we didn't have rules, no one could break them, and therefore no one would appreciate what it feels like to follow them," but in much more words, and probably more eloquently too. But you get the idea. Anyways, I thought that was an amazing point. I thought about it all day. People always complain about things like that, and how rules are restricting, but are they really? How could you appreciate good things, when the bad things are good too? That was the first thing I learned. Then it went on to talk about the message that two wrongs don't make a right, but I kind of blew that off, as it is so common and everything. This is where this whole recap of this movie ends, and my life continues. So I was at band, and I'm pretty much one of those kids that is mostly insubordinate, and wants to make the most of THEIR time, so maybe talks more than they should. But the thing is, the DI's (band leader people) are really rude a lot of the time. "Be quiet" turns to "SHUTUP!" and so on and so forth. As a highschool teenager who feels repressed, I of course react defiantly, and always justified my actions with the reassurance that they were being complete jerks, and deserved any crap I could dish out. Then after a particularly snarky remark, the clearest thought resonated through my head. "Two wrongs don't make a right." I almost stopped marching. I suddenly realized that I was at much fault, if not more so than the common band dictator. By being equally as rude in return, I was no better then they! I was floored, and kind of annoyed. I WANTED to be mean back, I WANTED to defend my rights. But I knew I shouldn't. The next time someone told me something in a less than friendly way, I answered back politely. And the effect was immediate. The devil of marching band started talking and laughing with me! I was amazed. Just by being polite, I was able to make life more bearable, even though I thought that by sticking it to the man, I was making life more "fun." This is the worldly fun, my friends, and does no good for a person. Finally, I would like to remark that it has not been easy to renounce my rebellious ways. In order to truly appreciate my choices, I have to sacrifice some of my comments I want to make as to abide by the no talking rules. Free agency isn't necessarily "free;" you have to work and sacrifice to get it. But the end results are so much better than the momentary satisfaction you might get by the gaping mouth of a slight superior you just put in their place.