He parked his Jaquar anywhere, and often in a no-parking zone. Always closest to whatever club, restaurant or play we were going to. Once I asked why. "Rules are meant to be broken," he said.
I've never liked rules, so I never asked again. I've always felt better "going with the flow."
He never got a ticket.
He was the wealthiest guy in the city. Also the handsomest. His reputation was pristine: no violations, no record for breaking rules -- or in this case -- laws.
Another man I know still flies his plane beneath bridges.
******
So last night at the gym, I was surprised to hear myself say, "They're breaking the rules." I was referring to some small thing that was disrupting everyone.
I stopped in the middle of working out and wondered about myself, rules, and this culture.... (I'm of a generation that believed handing out free meals, giving permanent shelter to the homeless, and living for the greater good would have brought us to a kind of utopia by now.) We thought that eliminating restricitions could strengthen our higher selves. But we were wrong.
Of course, without rules there would be chaos, without laws - anarchy. But, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, law and morality are not necessarily synonymous. How moral are our laws and the way they're enforced? What does that say about us?
It's difficult for humans to make and use laws wisely, especially in an unequal social system.
And it's not just a media myth that often, the most wealthy and privileged get away with parking their cars in forbidden zones and flying beneath bridges.
A.S. Neill, writing about freedom-inspired "Summerhill," claimed All Crimes, Hatred, Wars Can be Reduced to Unhappiness.-- "unhappiness" from restricted freedom.
I've never liked rules, so I never asked again. I've always felt better "going with the flow."
He never got a ticket.
He was the wealthiest guy in the city. Also the handsomest. His reputation was pristine: no violations, no record for breaking rules -- or in this case -- laws.
Another man I know still flies his plane beneath bridges.
******
So last night at the gym, I was surprised to hear myself say, "They're breaking the rules." I was referring to some small thing that was disrupting everyone.
I stopped in the middle of working out and wondered about myself, rules, and this culture.... (I'm of a generation that believed handing out free meals, giving permanent shelter to the homeless, and living for the greater good would have brought us to a kind of utopia by now.) We thought that eliminating restricitions could strengthen our higher selves. But we were wrong.
Of course, without rules there would be chaos, without laws - anarchy. But, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, law and morality are not necessarily synonymous. How moral are our laws and the way they're enforced? What does that say about us?
It's difficult for humans to make and use laws wisely, especially in an unequal social system.
And it's not just a media myth that often, the most wealthy and privileged get away with parking their cars in forbidden zones and flying beneath bridges.
A.S. Neill, writing about freedom-inspired "Summerhill," claimed All Crimes, Hatred, Wars Can be Reduced to Unhappiness.-- "unhappiness" from restricted freedom.
