We talked about authority last night; who we see as authority, how we respond to it and so on. In my case, i think that i can't generalise the way that i look at authority. I've got to look at it on a case by case basis.
Take, for example, teachers. They have to earn my respect; they don't get authority just beacause of their status! I've got some teachers who are absolute morons; they don't know the answers to questions that they're asked, they have no grasp of the time it takes to complete the work they set... they don't have any authority over me. However, the teachers who know what they're talking about, explain things clearly, treat you like a human rather than a faceless student - they earn my respect.
It's the same at work. I have very little respect for my boss at stateswim, because she encourages practices in class that i think are dangerous at most, and ineffective at least. I have no patience for that. Couple it with the fact that she choses to instruct me when there are parents watching and children waiting, making me look bad infront of them, and she has none of my respect. I don't respect her authority. My boss at church though, he's got my respect. Both him and the Minister share more of my respect that probably anyone else; i trust them, they care about me and we can have a difference of opinion (and we do have them, all the time) without either of us getting offended. They know how to deal with people and their jobs, despite all of the difficulties. I'd say that they have authority over me, but they wield it carefully and respect me in turn. That's the kind of authority that i respect.
There are some people my own age that i respect - but they're far and few between. As for my parents... they get my respect because they've managed us kids pretty well so far, and i respect my dad's career. However, on the whole, i don't have bucketloads of respect for them; i don't often think that they know what's best for me, nor that they've got everything in their lives figured out. I'm not saying i disrespect them; i'm just not quite sure how much authority they have over me.
Basically, i think that i probably could be said to have a problem with authority. I tend not to respect anyone unless they've proven to me that they know exactly what they're doing; and i often don't think that they do!
Take, for example, teachers. They have to earn my respect; they don't get authority just beacause of their status! I've got some teachers who are absolute morons; they don't know the answers to questions that they're asked, they have no grasp of the time it takes to complete the work they set... they don't have any authority over me. However, the teachers who know what they're talking about, explain things clearly, treat you like a human rather than a faceless student - they earn my respect.
It's the same at work. I have very little respect for my boss at stateswim, because she encourages practices in class that i think are dangerous at most, and ineffective at least. I have no patience for that. Couple it with the fact that she choses to instruct me when there are parents watching and children waiting, making me look bad infront of them, and she has none of my respect. I don't respect her authority. My boss at church though, he's got my respect. Both him and the Minister share more of my respect that probably anyone else; i trust them, they care about me and we can have a difference of opinion (and we do have them, all the time) without either of us getting offended. They know how to deal with people and their jobs, despite all of the difficulties. I'd say that they have authority over me, but they wield it carefully and respect me in turn. That's the kind of authority that i respect.
There are some people my own age that i respect - but they're far and few between. As for my parents... they get my respect because they've managed us kids pretty well so far, and i respect my dad's career. However, on the whole, i don't have bucketloads of respect for them; i don't often think that they know what's best for me, nor that they've got everything in their lives figured out. I'm not saying i disrespect them; i'm just not quite sure how much authority they have over me.
Basically, i think that i probably could be said to have a problem with authority. I tend not to respect anyone unless they've proven to me that they know exactly what they're doing; and i often don't think that they do!
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