Sometimes you bump into a series of events that make you ask a question related to these different happenings. This happened to me recently. Here are the three events. There was an obituary of a former student in the paper this morning. I read a blog post this morning which ended with "We need a system." I heard a radio piece this week that dealt with Dr. Martin Luther King's well known civil disobedience stand.
Chrissy, the former student, died at age 57. I had her in middle school and she challenged me, the principal, all other teachers and students. She pushed every body's buttons. She was part mischievous, part mean and very bright. Now some people might say that Chrissy was incorrigible and throw the book a her and throw her away and that would do some good and solve the situation.. Was Chrissy, in her unhappy way, telling us that our school rules left something to be desired? Many school rules are made for the comfort of the organization rather than for the students.
The post I read this morning was humorous and made a good point. How are people supposed to behave? Is a set of hard and fast rules needed so that everybody knows how to play? My reply to the post was, "Can you make rules for a little random, chaotic, quibbler like me? Would your system bring out the rebel in me?"
Dr. Martin Luther King lead a civil rights movement that fundamentally changed a country. King had to work years to bring about change. King brought about attention to problems by civil disobedience. King had stringent guide lines for civil disobedience. He would break unjust laws and expect to be punished and accept his punishment.
So all of this made me ask the question,"Who makes the rules?" Now before I go any further I'm all for honesty, goodness, peace, order and respect. But sometimes I have to wonder about rules which impose some group's stringent rules on others. This week in Mali we found out that Extremist Islamists tried to impose Shia law on a group of people without their consent. Not too long ago Christians burned witches. These religions are also divided into many denominations which sometimes disagree with one another to the point of violence. The Irish situation is a perfect example of religious turmoil. Political systems disagree and go to war. The world suffered a Hitler who in his demented mind thought some people should be exterminated. Political parties in governments argue to the point of bringing paralysis to their country. Type of clothing is sometimes directed by others. Men require women to be covered in a precise manner in parts of the world.
Why do people have the need to impose their idea of rules and regulations on others? I hope all people will question proposals for rules. It is our responsibility to question proposed rules so that we get the rules we deserve. In many cases we have far too many rules and regulations...red tape. People have not been thinking about making things efficient for a society to function.
Okay, there's my rant! By this time some of you have closed your eyes and put your hands over your ears and gone on to another blog! My rules make it so that you can leave my blog and go somewhere else. I won't be offended. I hope you won't be offended but will go away and think about things.
Serendipity. A Beatle's song just came on called "All together Now."
