Free «Obedience» Essay Paper

Obedience is one of the key things over the past centuries. It has been used as a weapon by leaders who have some authoritative powers. This is the reason why it is difficult to break that cycle of not obeying the authority. One wonders, why is it that a man is prone to obey and it becomes difficult for him to disobey. It all starts when a child is thought to obey the parents and it remains as a virtue in life. Obedience is categorized in different levels which ranges from the people to leaders.

When a powerful person is obeyed by the majority, the ego increases and they feel safe thus feeling they have control over the majority. For instance, when we talk about Vietnam, what clicks in the mind are abuses the innocent citizens had to undergo through especially in the hands of the soldiers during the time of war. When reading an article about the Vietnam War, I discovered that this solders especially the American soldiers got those orders from their commanders who ordered them to kill the innocent men, women and children in the cold blood. All this events took place in a small town known as Lai in Vietnam.

 

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When the then soldiers were questioned about their brutal acts, “I was obeying” was the only word that came from their mouth. This was to signify that the soldiers were working on orders of their commanders even though they seemed to enjoy whatever they were doing. It was like a passion to them to kill.

In April 2004, the world was horrified by the graphic photographs of the degraded and humiliated Iraq prisoners who were being torture by the American soldiers in a Bagdad prison. The soldiers claimed that they were obeying orders from above. such excuses were to slow down the process of interrogation as the soldiers claimed that they were fulfilling their roles as the prison guards of which it was expected of them to do so.

When we observe such a scenario in Vietnam, it raises the eyebrow in a manner in which we obey orders in everyday’s life. It is because of this reason that a man always feels safe and protected especially when he obeys the powers of the state, the church and the public opinion. This kind of obedience turns out to be part and parcel of the powers he worships hence making him feel strong with no mistakes at all. This then raises the question, why is it difficult for a person to disobey? To do so, such a person must have the courage in him and it has to be through sinning. This courage depends on a person’s state of development. A person can only have the courage to say “No” to certain things if he has acquired the capacity to fill and think for himself and that can only emerge if he is fully developed and has got the powers to disobey a person by saying “No” to evil acts. However, such a person who becomes can easily become free from such acts.

The capacity for disobedience is the condition for freedom and vice versa. If he’s afraid of freedom he cannot dare to say no and cannot have the courage to disobey. The capacity for freedom and disobedience are inseparable when it comes to social, political and religious system as proclaimed and yet it is in the forefront to stamp out that disobedience cannot speak the truth.

Has history proclaims, obedience has been identified with virtue while disobedience with sin and it is here that majority have ruled over the minority. This rules were made necessary by the fact that there were only enough of the good things of life for the few, and only the crumbs remained for the ones that were allowed to get them. If the few wanted to enjoy the good things, then the majority needs to serve them as the minority work for the crumbs. The majority needs to learn about obedience of which it is rooted to be the fear of force. For example, when we look at the American scenario over the Vietnam citizens in Bagdad prisons all that were as a result of orders from the authority that is the commanders of which they enjoyed they doing.