Do I think it's OK to fight authority as long as you're only

Hear now the words of John Mellencamp, the troubadour of the common man, who declared: “Do I think it’s OK to fight authority as long as you’re only talking about the high school teacher? No.” At first, this may sound like a jest, a simple quip about youth and rebellion. Yet within it lies a deeper truth, one that speaks to the tension between authority and freedom, discipline and defiance, guidance and pride. For Mellencamp, who often sang of struggle and resistance, reminds us here that not all authority is a chain to be broken—sometimes it is the hand that shapes us.

The high school teacher in his words stands as a symbol of the figures in our youth who call us to discipline, who demand effort, who test our wills. The instinct of the young is to rebel, to fight against rules, to see correction as oppression. Yet Mellencamp rejects this as folly. For in the classroom, rebellion does not lead to freedom, but to ignorance; defiance does not create strength, but weakness. To fight such authority is to fight against one’s own growth.

Consider the lives of great men and women who once sat under stern guidance. George Washington, long before he was a general, was a boy drilled in order and precision. Helen Keller, blind and deaf, found her liberation not in resisting, but in obeying the tireless efforts of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. In each case, the authority of the teacher was not tyranny, but a ladder upon which the student could rise. Rebellion against such authority would have meant the loss of destiny itself.

Mellencamp, who sang often of resisting unjust power, here distinguishes between corrupt and righteous authority. To resist injustice is noble; to resist teachers who labor for your good is foolish. There is wisdom in knowing when to yield. Just as the seed must break under the pressure of the soil to grow, so too must the student submit to guidance in order to bloom. Authority, when righteous, is not an enemy but a mirror, showing us our weaknesses so they may be strengthened.

The lesson is clear: not all authority is the same. There are rulers who exploit, and against them it is just to stand firm. But there are also mentors, coaches, parents, and teachers, whose authority is not to enslave but to shape. To fight against them is to bite the very hand that would lift us higher. The wise soul learns to discern the difference, to honor authority when it nurtures, and to challenge it only when it corrupts.

Practical wisdom follows: in your youth, listen more than you argue. Accept correction not as insult, but as investment. When your teacher demands more, do not see it as oppression, but as a gift. Later, when you encounter authority that seeks to bind or exploit, you will know the difference. You will have the strength, sharpened by discipline, to rise against tyranny, but the humility to bow before wisdom.

Thus, O children of tomorrow, hear Mellencamp’s words: do not waste your rebellion on the classroom. Save your fire for injustice, not for the teacher who seeks to guide you. For if you resist wisdom in youth, you will lack the strength to resist corruption in adulthood. Learn first to submit to guidance, and you will one day stand ready to resist that which deserves resistance.