Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that man gets justice (Proverbs 29:26).

If you ever find yourself in a position of authority, watch out.  You will likely be cursed at, clawed at, slandered at, suffocated by, and/or totally disregarded by people who have issues with their parents or some other authority figure(s).  I know from personal experience.  These antagonistic tactics can be incredibly challenging; they can feel like personal attack in the highest degree.  But I've learned along the way that such reactions often take place on the positional level more than on the personal level.  That is, even though on the surface level the cursing, clawing, slandering, suffocating, and/or disregarding might appear to be personal, these things are very often fueled by underlying hurts and disappointments related to other significant authority figures in their lives.  The response of a 28-year-old adult is at times more closely related to things that happened in his life at age 8, merely triggered by some vague congruence of modern-day circumstances.

We all do this, on a certain level.  We respond to our critics based on the way that we've responded to our critics previously.  We respond to authority in ways that we've responded to authorities previously.  It's not mean-spirited; it's not "personal."  It's just our way of trying to right the wrongs of the past.  It's our way of addressing the underlying issues in a new way, with new players involved -- with the hope of a better outcome than the first time around.

A lot of times, this would seem to be the only way that past hurts can be processed, given that we've moved away from the people who were originally involved... or they've died... or other circumstances have changed to the point where revisiting the old issue specifically would be hopeless.  So we take it out on the place-holder:  the authority figure who stands right in front of us at any given moment.  But here's where it's good to note:  God is the ultimate authority figure, and He's the one from whom we get our true vindication.  Any wrongs that might have occurred in the past were mere misrepresentations of the authority that God had divested to a parent, or a teacher, or a police officer.  And any attempt to work out these issues on the authority figure standing right in front of us at any given moment is a misguided attempt to redress these grievances.  How much better it is to bring our hurt and pain from the past to God Himself!  How much better it is to receive healing and correction of our misrepresentations from God Himself!  Naturally, we want to "seek an audience with a ruler" -- but ultimately, "it is from the LORD that man gets justice."  God has made Himself available to us, and He is deeply concerned about justice.  We just have to go to Him -- instead of our teachers / coaches / pastors / bosses / politicians -- for everything.