People are raised to obey. Sounds unfortunate, but it is the truth. Parents teach kids to listen. School teaches students to follow instructions. A society of people who are trained to say yes. But Irish author Oscar Wilde observer that it is not what humans really want. Instead, he claimed that "disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read hsitory, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." Truly, it is through disobedience that history has seen great progress in various fields. It is thanks to the people with innovative and rebellious minds that humanity has reached a point civilization had never thought of before. Disobedience should be viewed as an innovation for changes and not an act of negative rebellion because it is a beautiful human trait that is proven to lead to social progress.

When talking about disobedience and progress, it is hard not to talk about the country that is well known as the land of the free: the United States of America. Except, about two to three centuries ago, it was not known as the land of freedom at all. It was the opposite. During the era of European domination across the entire globe, the thirteen colonies of North America did not escape that fate of losing the sovereignty and freedom. For years, the descendants of North America were not viewed as the same as those across the ocean. They were forced to send money and resources for the royal family. They were forced to accept unfair taxes without having a say about what people could do to their land and their effort. They were forced to say yes. But no matter how great the Great Britain was, it failed to see how great the will to fight for freedom and independence of the colonists was. It failed to realize the "disobedience" had started. It started with the Boston Tea Party when the colonists publicly acted against the interests of their colonizers. It continued with the Sons of Liberty who launched rebellious acts as a way to find their freedom. It was heighted with Patrick Henry who disobeyed the "Divine Right" and made the patriotic call to action "give me Liberty or give me Death." And the rest is history. The United States of America is now respected as the greatest power ever on Earth, the leader of human rights and social progress. And it all thanks to the colonists who had the will to rise up, to disobey, and to say no against their fate.

But this land of the free would continue to witness more fights, more blood, sweat, and tears, to define what it means to be the home of the braves. Despite the dream of making a land of liberty, of individual freedom, free from all of the European monarchies, which was stated clearly in the Declaration of Independence, actualized by the Constitution, and heightened by the Bill of Rights, the United States failed to make it the land it wanted to be for two centuries. Despite the Civil War was settled in, fairly, a short amount of time, the cause of the enslaved for their rights would continue to burn. The century following the Civil War was painful for the African Americans who had to live through it. Jim Crow Laws, segragation made legally by the Supreme Court, lynchings, and so on. In the minds of the racist people in the South, African Americans still had to "obey." To them, African Americans had no rights, no privilege. But if there is any lesson African Americans can learn from the history of the United States, it will be that this country is the land of opportunity, and if people fight for it, fight for the right, fight for justice, it will eventually prevail. And they did. The "disobedience" once again appeared on this land. It appeared in the form of mass migration to the free North, also known as the Great Migration. It appeared in the court cases where Black Americans refused to say no and would fight, in a civil manner, for what they knew the laws allowed them to. But the disobedience would last so long, all the way into the 20th century, because they would fight until the ultimate goal was achieved. The Civil Rights Movement would be known forever as the highlight of this disobedience, as the torch of freedom and human rights, against all the conservative and radical views people posed on them. Today, people respect Rosa Parks for her "disobedience" when she refused to give up the seats on the bus, that now people of all colors can sit on the bus together. People respect Martin Luther King Jr. for he had a dream, a dream that all people, regardless of race, background, or belief, can live together in peace, and his "rebellious" thought made that dream a reality. Disobedience is proven to be the key to social progress, thanks to the perseverance of African Americans and marginalized people who would not say yes and obey, but who would fight for changes, for justice.

The land of the free, and the home of the braves. They all sound very cool, but people would see the United States as more than just that. After World War II, people realized that the power of technology would lead us to places we have never been. The space race during the Cold War is the example of this advancement. But the focus should also be on the popularity of personal computers, the magical machines that would make life of many way easier. From 1970s to 1990s, people would see massive changes in how personal computers are made, and the innovations that would define the 21st century. One of the companies from this era that would later be known as the first trillion-dollar company, the leader of technology and innovation, the no-brainer when it comes to computers and phones, is Apple. And the mastermind behind the success of this company? Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was more than just a CEO. He was a real leader, and a leader, as great as he was, usually has a crazy mind. Steve Jobs was a rebel, really. Since a young age, he would react against his dad so bad in order to convince him to pay for Steve Job's tuition for college. And then he would drop out of the same college because it was too boring for him, how insane of a student he was. He would go to India, practicing Buddhism, and would not even shave his beard. During the hard years at Apple, he would not accept to be assigned the number 2 in the system. Instead, he insisted to have the number  0, which was impossible, simply because he did not want to stay behind anyone. His disobedience and rebellion costed him bad, because he would be kicked out of his own company. But here is the truth: Apple needed a rebellious mind like Steve Jobs'. Without Steve Jobs, the company made many failed products, and almost went bankrupt, while Steve Jobs with his mind of disobedience gained sucess with his new company Pixar and the first ever 3D movie Toy Story. If there is anything to explain the crazy sucess of Apple after Steve Jobs returned, it has to be because the rebellious mind of Jobs always aimed for something unusual, something new, something unique, and definitely innovative. Steve Jobs made things people had seen before. Steve Jobs did not follow the norms, or should it be said, Steve Jobs did not "obey" social expectations, because he defined social expectations with his innovations. And today, Apple is one of the greatest companies that ever exist, with products and services that, still, do not follow what people want, like high-megapixel camera for example, but people still prefer Apple to other brands. Because, like their motto, they "think different."

Disobedience, the word with a negative connotation, turns out to be a great virtue of human if they know how to use it correctly. And for the United States, this country should feel lucky, because there will always be a person, with a rebellious mind, who is willing to disobey and stand up against injustices that still exist even in the 21st century. And sooner or later, one person would become one community, and one community would become one movement. A movement of disobedience, but also a movement of justice, and a movement of social progress.