Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau wrote in his book Civil Disobedience: "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right." (Henry David Thoreau Quotes) This is the quote which I had at the top of my mind while I completed my week of Civil Disobedience. According to Merriam- Webster dictionary the definition of civil disobedience is “the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest” (Definition of Civil Disobedience) My project acted upon civil disobedience because throughout this week I would sit anywhere I wanted in Chemistry because in that class we had assigned seats, this project broke the classroom rules of my chemistry class which portrays an act of civil disobedience. I believe students should have the right to sit anywhere they pursue in class because they know their own capabilities.
Being a teenager I believe students are mature enough to know where they best fit in the class, whether it is next to a friend because they constantly need help or in the corner because they do not want to get distracted and or especially in the front because they do not have good vision or hearing. I came with the idea for my civil disobedience project because normally I sit in the back and I want teachers to know that students know their own hearing and vision capabilities and it is not fair for teachers to randomly assign seats. Students know their capabilities and teachers should not have the ability to interfere with them. To carry out my experiment I would sit in a random seat for three consecutive days. While I was conducting my experiment I got three different reactions, on the first day I received a stare for about fifteen seconds and the girl whose seat I had taken scurried off after the bell rang. On the second day I was surprised by the reaction because the boy whose seat I had taken was lying to me about how he cannot see from the back even though he was wearing glasses, he also scurried off to the back as soon as the bell rang. Finally came the last day where I was going to carry out my experiment and I decided to take one of my best friends seats to see her reaction, surprisingly she did not care at all and she just went and sat in my assigned seat. Carrying out this experiment was pretty tough because I was asked on the second day by my teacher why I was not sitting in my assigned seat and I instantaneously told him that I had forgotten my contacts so I need to sit up in the front. Watching my classmates reactions was the best, some of them thought I was doing it as a joke just for no reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “Always do what you are afraid to do” I believe this pertains to my project because I was extremely afraid to not leave the seat I had sat in, I was extremely afraid I would have to deal with my teacher after class or I would have to deal with the principal. Every time I refused to get out of the seat I felt like I was Rosa Parks, obviously we were both fighting for two different rights and at the end we both got what we wanted.
During this week where I performed my civil disobedience task I was able to break social norms and traditions. Emerson once exclaimed “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better” Emerson could not have summed up my project any better; I was experimenting to see the reactions of other people but especially my teacher. Transcendentalism is where ideas “transcend” the natural world as we see it. Normally whenever a teacher assigns seats the student sits without saying a word and I believe that by sitting wherever I wanted and explaining to students that my hearing and vision abilities are below average so I have to sit in the front or else I will not be able to focus during class. As an outcome I did not get what I expected, originally over the weekend I was freaking out because I thought that my chemistry teacher would talk to me in private because I was not following directions, I was scared that I would set a bad reputation. I also hypothesized that none of the students would really mind that I was sitting in their seat and they would go sit in another seat without even having a conversation with me. As you can see from my journals I was completely incorrect with my hypothesis, the exact opposite happened. It seemed like my teacher approved of my valid reasons and although the kids whose seat I had taken all found a different seat later they still asked me to leave. I was extremely pleased with these results because I did not want my teacher to start disliking me and have the mindset of me being a “rule breaker” Out of this experiment I was able to stand for myself and I realized that this experiment was harder than I thought. The most important thing in my opinion was noting down the different reactions between the three different people whose seat I had taken. I would definitely do this experiment another time, but who knows maybe the reactions will be different!
Transcendental views on society imply that people should live like the Native Americans, peacefully and with the beauty of nature. I do not think that this way of life is possible in modern day society. I personally do not think I am either a transcendentalist or anti-transcendentalist, some characteristics of being a transcendentalist include the simplification of life style and also meaning the lack of necessity of material goods such as what Chris McCandless did in his journey into the wild. On the other hand being an anti-transcendentalist you have to be less optimistic than transcendental texts about mankind, nature, and divinity. Also as an anti-transcendentalist you have to be less confident about the notion that perfection is an innate quality of mankind. I believe I do not fit in any of these groups because living in the 21st century and in the United States where we are more educated than most of the world we have the tools for us to succeed such as smart phones and laptops. I rely on my phone and my laptop so I can finish my homework so I will humbly agree that I am a materialistic man. On the other hand I do not think I am anti-transcendentalist because I am not less confident on the view of life and I do not have a dark view on life. I feel like I am right in the between of being a transcendentalist and anti-transcendentalist. Emerson once said “Self-trust is the first secret to success” I followed Emerson’s words throughout my week of displaying civil disobedience. I would not have been able to get through this entire week if it was not for the trust that I had set inside myself.