Acceptance or Resistance

"One must start with the impossible in order to reach the possible." —Hermann Hesse

"I am an Anarchist not because I believe Anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal." —Rudolf Rocker, The London Years


What determines our choices in life is whether or not we feel that we have the power to make a choice. If we find ourselves in a position where we are chained, we have only two choices; acceptance or resistance. If you sit back and accept things for what they are you will simply become another statistic. However, if you take the path of resistance your actions will be forever carved into the bones of history. It is a black and white issue. No matter how deep you take it, no matter from what angle you peer in from, there are only two choices and they are both black and white. The choice is either or, not whether or not, and certainly there is no middle ground that is stable enough to stand on for very long. Where you take your stand will ultimately decide where you will take your fall. You will find yourself taking the path of less resistance, or rising up and joining the few.

So why would one want to take a stand on either side, and who decided that there ever was a “place” to stand? It is a simple answer that has always come with high risks. It is because if we accept everything that we are told, take it for face value we would have, and forever will remain slaves. There has always been someone willing to take the stand of leader and decide for his followers what is right, and what is wrong. However, not everyone agrees as to what is right, and what is wrong correct? It is then a necessity to take a stand. You either become one of the clones wandering the streets accepting everything that you are told as truth, or you rebel and question everything until you finally become your own person. There is an issue with taking a stand, however. You will be frowned upon by every one of those clones for being “different” and “non-conforming”, an outcast in the eyes of modern society. Even if you are fighting for the clones, you will in turn be shunned by them. It is true however, that some of them will of course silently cheer you on under their breath-afraid to take such a strong stand against everything that they have been taught, and yet know is wrong. But ultimately you will have gained a sense of freedom that the others have always sought after, but will never find as long as they continue to bend to the laws and truths that suffer them.

"I move in a society so devoid of ordinary reality that I am continually stopping to teach good sense, to give support, to help out, as a young gangster might help an old lady across the street on his way to the stick-up." — Paul Goodman

Are you willing to step forth when the rest of the world will stay behind? Are you willing to fight for the freedoms of people who silently want you to succeed, and some of whom see you as a “freak” or even an enemy? It is that true nature of ourselves that we follow instinctively that will lead us to exactly where we belong. No matter the cause, no matter the end result, if we take a path of resistance then every ounce of that effort is put forth as another step in the right direction, even if no one appreciates it.

So either you are a complainer; continuously yelling out into the night in a silent rage or simply being a sheep and doing what everyone else does-thinking and acting like a huge blob of unintelligible thought. Or you are one of the few that feel the urge to resist and rise up against what has been proclaimed as the truth and tearing it down to reveal the real truth that lies just beyond it. Acceptance or Resistance; stand up or be stepped on.

"Do not jump into your automobile next June & rush out to the canyon country ... In the first place, you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the god-damned contraption & walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone & through the thornbush & cactus.

When traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you'll see something, maybe. Probably not. In the second place, most of what I write about in this book is already gone or going fast.

This is not a travel guide but an elegy. A memorial. You're holding a tombstone in your hands. A bloody rock. Don't drop it on your foot — throw it at something big & glassy. What have you got to lose?"

—Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaireot