Rebellion is a natural part of being a teenager -- seeing how much crap you could get away with, without the parental units knowing, and then the smug feeling of knowing you pulled something over on them, of course, the mentality being that you were the first person to ever get away with anything -- but it's a long standing tradition of rebellion going back to probably Adam and Eve.
I admit, I wasn't a huge rebel, I didn't steal my father's car at 13 and go joy riding, I never got busted for drinking and, well, drugs were just stupid, why get high and trigger my asthma? I had a pretty lenient curfew, just as long as my butt was in bed when my father left for work at 1 a.m. it was all good -- there was nothing to rebel against. I do admit to a few transgressions about staying out all night and skinny dipping in a public beach, but nothing that required my mother to bail me out -- I only chewed out occasionally.
Except my mouth tended to get me into trouble, more than often I would shoot my mouth off and it would backfire. Sarcasm was a key piece of it, because as a learning disabled kid who was fighting to be normal I had to make myself stand out and in the midst of teenage hell. There was very few options, so I used my big mouth as a form of expression and use it I did.
Being a rebel and a badass isn't about cool clothes or trending-setting: It's attitude -- that I don't give a rat's behind what you do or what you think because I know what I am. It's a self-confidence we so desperately want to raise up so no one thinks we're totally screwed up in the head, mainly because if we're seen as weak and sensitive, we'll lose all credibility and respect of others. I freely admit I just don't care what people think of me because I've spent too much time before worrying what others thought and it's just vapid and time consuming. There's so much more to live and I would rather focus on something of substance; and what I want is to help and be a voice for those kids who want to be heard but aren't. To show what true individualism is.
Do I regret not being much of a punk and getting arrested more? No, because I think it wouldn't have helped at all. I wish I had been more adventurous and become more social, but I don't regret the experiences of I've had or things I've done or the people I've encountered. Maybe being a bit of a rebel isn't so much about the crap you got away with as a teenager, it's about the person you want to be after you get through with the hormones from hell and the lessons you learn from it.
Were you a rebel? Did you do anything stupid that you look back on with regret?