Fail to Comply! It's that easy!
Look up there private! Ha ha... made you look! Man, I got you so good! I am so powerful!
There's alot to be said about paranoid people, but mostly, they're just fun to mess with. I'm about to tell you the story of how my entire company thought that I was heading up some sort of unruly rebellion in an attempt to overthrow the system. Actually, that thought never crossed my mind. I was just an angry young man with an open mind and a willing ambition... and it scared the camouflage dookie out of my chain of command.
When I got to my first duty station, I was one of the best marines in my company. I was the first in my platoon to be made a team leader and then eventually a squad leader. I was a 19 year old lance corporal in charge of about 12 marine's lives. But pretty soon, a lot of the really bad marines (some who could barely lace up their own boots without my help) started getting promoted over me due to a point system. It consisted of a combination of rifle score, physical fitness score, and something called MCI's. MCI's were stupid test that we could voluntarily take to "get ahead." I refused. In my opinion, a true leader proves him/herself everyday, which I felt I did. Still, the crappiest marines were now my superiors and taking out all of their aggression on me. All of the times I chewed someone out for being insufficient were coming around to bite me in the ass. This is when I began to see the big picture.
The military was NOT what I'd been brainwashed to believe it was. You didn't get ahead by doing a great job. You got ahead by kissing a good ass. Not to mention, all of people I thought were my "friends" treated me like I was garbage once they were promoted. It was as if someone had implanted a microchip into their tiny inferior brains. So I began to react! I thought, "If that's how you have to act to get promoted... I don't want anything to do with it." The way I saw it, my military career was finished, and I still had about three years left to serve. So I did what I knew had to be done. Nothing! I sat down and did next to nothing. If one of my former comrades pulled a power trip and attempted to make me stand at attention while speaking to them, or any other Hitleresque procedure, I'd smile and say Fuck off. They would, in turn, go and tell on me like a freaking fourth grader. I would have to, once again, report to my staff Sergeant's office. Meanwhile the veins in his forehead looked as if they would burst as he screamed at me from across his desk.
Around the time of my "downfall," a brand new batch of young marines were being sent into our platoons and they were specifically told not to talk to me and to basically, stay away from me all together. ME! The top marine in my company was now public enemy number one! And to be honest with you... I did my best NOT to pass on my newly found disdain for the military to the fresh new faces in my platoon, but they saw right through the barracks without my saying a thing! Pretty soon, they were all just following my lead. You see, true leadership isn't found in some test. It was right in front of their faces and they chose to waste it! FINE!
But pretty soon, everyone noticed that I had a little crew of followers that would go the distance for me and I for them. Through our adversity, we had grown closer than they could've ever made us, and we'd done it without them and because of them. My chain of command was outraged and of course jumped to the conclusion that I was forming a rebellion in order to overthrow the system. They threatened to send me to Cuba or Alaska if I didn't straighten up. All this fuss over my refusing to give a shit!
The point of the story is this: No matter what you do in life, be it military service or an illustrious career at Burger King, think outside the box. Question authority! Don't allow your eyes to be closed to new ideas and experiences. Take chances! Go for it! Don't believe everything they feed you cause alot of it isn't true. Be yourself, above all be yourself! You have ONE LIFE! LIVE IT THE WAY YOU WANT TO!