Rebellion

Rebel:

noun

1. a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of his or her country.

2. a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition. 

Well, doesn't that sound familiar? The first definition sounds strikingly similar to problems the world is facing today ie: Syria. Yeah. What's that? Syrians are killing Syrians? How about we kill more Syrians to stop Syrians from killing Syrians. Sound logic right there. From the very little knowledge I have of the current state of Syria, it seems like Syrian citizens are rebelling against one, President Bashar al-Assad. Although I'm fairly confident that many citizens would argue that the title, "President" should be replaced with "Dictator." Or "Stupid jerk-face." Whichever floats your boat. Apparently he's been doing some slightly shady things like using chemical warfare against the Syrian citizens, although there doesn't seem to be any hard evidence to support such claims. Even then, it doesn't seem like Mr. Assad is doing a very good job at keeping the peace. Something I feel like should have been his job to do as leader of his country. But enough about that, let's talk about those rebels. They are standing up against the Assad Regime for one reason or another. Maybe they're being oppressed super hard, Assad could be killing off citizens one by one, maybe he smells funny. For whatever reason though, the rebels are, well, rebelling. Resisting the regime, trying their best to get something to change for the better. Rebellions occur when someone, or in this case, a large group of people, don't agree with what someone or something is doing. Rebels will try to change things, or at least express their displeasure through acts of protest of some sort. How peaceful these protests are can be debated. 

Now, there is one rebel that comes to mind when reading the second definition. Alexander Supertramp (awesome name), more commonly known as, Christopher J. McCandless. A very gifted man with a very successful future ahead of him, goes on to essentially throw that life away in pursuit of an idealistic lifestyle that he vastly underestimated. Did I mention he was cocky? He's cocky. "I'm going to live off the land in the middle of Alaska with a sack of rice, a puny little pea shoote- I MEAN RIFLE, and incredibly little knowledge of the area around me. This is gonna be good." And it was good. A good story anyways. Chris hates authority. Not just authority figures, just the very idea of authority itself. The word "control" doesn't mean anything to him unless the word is used in such a way that implies Chris would be the one controlling Chris. Any other variation was wrong and stupid in his eyes. Tradition? Traditional things like laying a foundation for your future by going to college and having a degree in something that would get you a job? Absolute nonsense (although I agree to an extent.) Chris would be described as a "free spirit." Going whichever way the wind blows, but also not one to be stopped by anything that could get in the way. If I could use one word to describe him, it'd be a toss up between; stubborn, stupid, rebellious, or OhMyJesusYouAreSoStupidWhyWouldYouDoThatYouCouldHaveBeenAtHomePlayingWithYourDog.

I think stubborn is a good one.