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"Defiance" is a word we so often use & so often hear.
When we were a child, if we were to be slightly disobedient to those who were more senior than us, we are defiant. "No, I dont want to learn piano, I prefer to play soccer" = defiance.
Adolescence is the stage when this word is being used the most frequent on us, and people usually term it as the "turbulent stage". Any answer that is opposite to the adults' is seen as a challenge, a form of defiance. Sometimes when we say something, it is defiance. When we keep quiet instead, it is also defiance - silent defiance they term it. "Well, I prefer to do it my way. I think that yours may not work" = defiance + pride. Sometimes adults cant seem to be pleased with any way a teenger do something. It just makes people exasperated.
Because of the exasperating adolescence experience, when many have reached the stage of adulthood, their defiance become a form of indifference. Indifference is the most dangerous and hardest form of defiance to tackle. "I am not bothered by what happened because I cant be bothered anyway."
Sometimes it is the situations that others put us in that made us defiant. Cant they stop short to listen a little more, observe a little more, feel a little more before they speak and pass remarks? Perhaps people usually thought that teenagers are the ones who have to grapple with "defiant" issues. Actually, adults do also. I am one of them. What is wrong with wanting to be different from others, being not the norm, being the special case? Are we really so cooped up in this society that prize only collectivism; the art of following what others do, even if it means to demean oneself? I dont understand, and sometimes I am turning my defiance into indifference.
Many think that defiance is baddddddd, is something negative. Even religious leaders go against people who have defiant behaviour or action. The issue here is: sometimes defiance is a form of self defence. It is not the action that is wrong, it is the attitude. I am also not a supporter of defiant attitudes. It is sometimes the mentality and action that I think is necessary, for us to be able to come out of a situation.
Imagine someone branded you "stupid, lousy and a good-for-nothing with no talents and abilities". If one were to have a defiant attitude as a response to that, he/she will purposely go against the person, say a teacher, by not doing the homework, not studying for tests and exams. The end result is, the student completed the mission to be a defiant one by failing the subject, but at the expense of his own future. On the other hand, having a defiant mentality, the student will go against what the teacher said by working doubly hard and scoring well to prove the teacher wrong. Both are defiance, but the latter one is the type which should be encouraged, because it can turn defeat into victory.
Even in many aspects of life, defiance is necessary. I was reminded of sports. If my team were to be behind my opponent and time is ticking away, the norm would be "we will lose for sure,we cant catch up". But it is the defiance of "we shall never give up. The battle is not lost yet" that will give us the slim lifeline. Isnt that defiance? Isnt that the key to turning imminent defeat into victory? If we do not even possess that tinge of defiance, how do we become overcomers and winners?
I am a defiant person. I will not jump on the bandwagon blindly just because someone told me so, and told me that it is good for me. I mean, well, I am also a human made by God who has so kindly given me a brain to think, eyes to see, mouth to speak and hands to do. So I believe that not everything that people tell me may be necessarily good for me. Give me a chance to try, to experience, to enjoy life. Of course apart from committing vices and the unethicals, i do wish to make use of all the abilities God has bestowed me. I want to remain active and be an overcomer of adversities.