Give Us Any Rule We'll Break It (Brian Katcher)

 

They say you always become what you hate. People who were bullied in middle school become tormentors as high school seniors. Teens who railed against their parents' unfair rules enforce the same ones on their own children. Liberals become more conservative over twenty years without changing a single opinion.

As a teen, I was a complete anarchist. That is to say, I'd carve the anarchist A into every blank surface of my high school. I'd wear shirts with Lee Harvey Oswald on them and say things that would get me on a list today. I'd smart off to teachers and be barely civil to police officers.

Of course I became a teacher. Kind of selling out. But change comes from within, right? I had a shitty education, it was time to do things right. Hey, a teacher can be cool, right? Right?

But apparently, that wasn't enough. Last April, I was elected to the city council of my town of about 15,000 people. I unseated the mayor pro tem, who'd been on the council over 30 years. I'm an elected official.

I've gone from mocking the police to approving their pay raises. I've gone from vandalizing street signs to looking at various bids for their purchase. I've gone from mocking displays of civic pride to helping organizing them.

I have a little spot at a group podium with my name on it. People call me 'Councilman.' I get to go to the closed sessions of city council meetings. I can't even tell my wife what goes on there.

Not because it's classified, but because it's so boring. So boring. Even if I decided to violate confidentiality, she wouldn't be interested in the dull shit we discuss.

So am I like Mr. Smith, Davy Crockett, and Atticus Finch, fighting for the little guy? Or am I like the Jaws mayor? 

I dunno. I got like two years before I have to decide if I want to run again.

I recently ran into an old acquaintance. He asked me what I'd been up to. 

"Meetings, meetings, meetings. You?"

"Drag show after drag show."

Our lives really went in different directions.