Pushed away: Feathers (III)

It reacts with something close to physical distaste to the display of authority, the titles and ceremony and insignia of it, and the distaste runs past the display into the thing itself, so legitimate authority gets declined along with the pageantry, its own included. A patriarchal household ran the entire show on rank and kept it permanently outside, which makes every subsequent uniform a reminder rather than a neutral object. What it asks for is to separate one instance of authority from its trimmings and judge it on what it actually does.

Put a title on someone and watch me lose all respect for them.

It echoes Ji Kang, who would not take office, who wrote to a friend to end the friendship over being recommended for one, and went on working at his forge under a tree. The form implies a task: to ask whether refusing the post is the only available way to refuse the pomp.