Following the Rules

I have all sorts of thoughts swirling around in my head as a result of some of the books I've read recently.

I'm a rule-follower. That's what I've decided after some serious introspection. I am a "rules are made for following" type of person, not a "rules are made for breaking" type of person. I tend to think authority should be respected, and can get really frustrated and irritated when I perceive that someone isn't following the rules.

I wonder why I am this way. Is it my particular personality? Is it the way I was raised (for surely, I was expected to obey my parents--period--no questions asked)? As I read on another blog, could it be that I'm a product of a public school system with an unspoken agenda?
"I think it was John Taylor Gatto's book "Dumbing Us Down" that talked about what the schools really teach us and what the unspoken agenda reveals. A must read. Didn't you learn to be subordinate in school? To talk only when spoken to? To not disrupt the schedule or lesson with your own ideas or train of thought? To do the same thing everyone else was doing? To follow the leader? Hmmm....something to think about."

I recently finished The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (thanks for the tip, Amanda! smile). This was a thought-provoking series (not to mention just an enjoyable read), and the first book triggered memories of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, short stories I read back in high school. It also made me think of Lois Lowry's The Giver and The Messenger. Do you remember these books and short stories? Do you remember a society in which people lose all freedom, even to the point they don't know freedom exists? Do you remember that freaky story in which everyone gathers for the annual lottery, and then the reader is shocked to find the villagers don't even question the tradition of stoning someone to death and begin throwing stones at their neighbor, mother, wife?

Interestingly, I find my son is more willing to question the rules. For example, you may remember the knife he made and wears on his belt.
He really sees no reason he can't wear it everywhere he goes. The store, church, Walmart. . .he thinks it's quite dumb when his dad or I tell him to take it off. I remember we went to a church meeting in Kansas City over Memorial Day weekend, and he was wearing it and was asked to take it off. He questioned us as to why this was necessary, and Alan discovered it was because of an insurance policy the church had.
Frankly, my first instinct is irritation with him at moments like these. What's the big deal, just take it off, I think. They just want to make sure no one gets hurt and they don't know you are responsible with it. You won't be needing it in the meeting anyway. All the senseless acts of violence have skewed our perceptions in our current society. Just go with the flow, don't make a big deal, let it go.

But then I wonder. Is this how we lose our freedoms--when we just go with the flow? When we don't stand up and say "this is a stupid law."

As I think about it, I'm reminded how irritated I got at the over-regulation at a skating rink recently. I wasn't allowed to hold my daughter while skating (okay, I submitted, knowing people are sue-happy and their insurance company probably mandates such rules), but then when I set her on a ledge and let my arms hang on either side of her so she could watch her dad, brothers and sisters, I was told that she couldn't sit on that ledge. That was an extra straw and tipped my scales toward irritation. This is my daughter, I am right here, and if she falls, it's my responsibility--don't tell me what to do. Obviously, I didn't say anything, but that's what I was thinking. And then I think of stupid laws that infringe on our freedoms--like car seats and seat belts (anyone else noticing a common theme here--that of insurance companies? hmmm)--and I'm reminded of Patrick Henry asserting "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."

This brings me to the possibility of the Supreme Court declaring protests at military funerals to be unconstitutional. Now don't get me wrong, I don't support these self-righteous protesters in any way, and think what they're doing is rude, classless, and grossly disrespectful. But to declare such protests unconstitutional? Wow. The fact that it's a possibility, and that Americans support such a decision scares me. We have become a society that expects the government to take care of us, and will cheerfully hand over our freedoms without even thinking of long-term effects and the doors that we are opening (or closing).

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. Thomas Jefferson

I want to submit to the authorities that are placed over me, as God commands. I do wonder sometimes what will become of our country as we continue to rebel against God. History shows He is more than capable of using the rise and fall of governments to discipline His people and draw them back to Him. I think about these books and observe what goes on around me, and I wonder. . .to follow the rules, or not to follow the rules. . .

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves. Ronald Reagan

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. Ronald Reagan