RULES

Rules.  Don’t you get irritated at the mere word ‘rules’?  It just gives off a bad vibe.  I’m not sure why though; rules in general are a good thing.

There are the rules (aka - laws) that are meant to protect us, that speak to our morality.  No killing, no stealing, no damaging other people’s property.  ‘Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife.’  And so on.  These are all obvious no-no’s (to most of us anyway!)  These can’t be broken, shouldn’t be broken.  Hopefully you’ll be caught if you did break them!

Next come the second tier rules.  I call these the Common Curtesy Set; such as the “Golden Rule”: Treat others as you would like to be treated.  Say please and thank you, hold the door, give up your seat to the elderly, tell the truth, look people in the eye, help those in need, be generous, be considerate.  Sadly these can be, and often are broken.  They can not be enforced, nor are they taught nearly well enough.  In my opinion, if we all could live by these rules, no others would even be necessary.  Just think, if we applied common curtesy to driving - there would be no road rage because people would kindly move out of the left lane and let others pass them (this seems to be enormously difficult for the American population!)  Speed limits would hardly be necessary because your concern for your others would stop you from driving 60 miles per hour down residential streets and past schools.  Ah, if only…

Then we come to all the “other” rules: the ones that fall into a grey area, the ones that tempt you - if not beg you, to break them.  The rules that were put in place by someone who was a little too rule happy.  These are the rules that bring out your normally well-hidden, rebellious nature.  For example, highway speed limits (not at all the same as the in-town speed limits referred to above!), no chewing gum in school, no running in the hallways, no walking on the grass.  Jay-walking.  Most rules of the english grammar language!!!!  Many of these are related to particular places and establishments.  Like  no throwing snowballs into the snow covered field during recess at my children’s elementary school.  Or no walking your first grade child to his classroom after the first week of school.  It just makes you want to break them out of sheer principle! 

Breaking the rules is not always a bad thing.  Just think, where would rock music be today if the Beatles and Elvis didn’t break the rules?  Where would art be without the impressionists who broke all art conventions of the time - Monet, Renoir, Degas and so on.  Then there are the political rule breakers who helped to change history: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela.  If it weren’t for people who were willing to say, “These rules are not fair,” we would live in a very different world.  Breaking the rules becomes necessary at times.

In the end it all comes down to this very simple rule your mother taught you years ago: just be nice!  Be a good, kind person - the type who is concerned for the safety and well being of others.  Then maybe society wouldn’t require so many rules.  And we wouldn’t feel the need to break them all the time!