The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Law and Order

When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled. -- Xun Zi – Confucian philosopher


People are born good but need a positive environment in order to fully prosper with the “Way”, Xunzi argues that it is only the environment which can save a person from immorality.

LAWLESSNESS

I was driving down the road and looked at my speedometer, the school of cars was doing about eight miles an hour over the maximum speed limit, with a few strays weaving in and out to gain position. I thought to myself when the cat is away the mouse will play…no enforcement. Why must man reject authority, think outside of the orthodox box, think of themselves as above the laws of the land, and just do whatever it is that suits their fancy, contibute to the lawless behavior and have little concern for the safety and welfare of others, just because nobody with authority will witness it, they wouldn't be punished. I sounded like an old man expressing desires that the denizen acheive progress into a higher plateau of awareness.

Why is it so hard to obey the speed limit? It doesn’t matter what the posted speed limit is, people exceed it by at least five miles an hour, more if they can influence other drivers by pushing them or making frustration gestures. Is it the effects of the caffeine, the peer pressures, or the competition. Are they still lawless and immature jerks when they are not behind the wheel, usually not.  Usually they return to their non- Andretti normal-selves, hidden in the deep recesses of their complex minds during the driving experience. Is it that childhood sing-song “Well, everyone else is doing it….” rationalization? Do I have to say, “If Johnny jumped off the cliff, would you jump off the cliff too?”

I think it just must be some sort of a ‘venting’ personality that drivers acquire once they get behind the wheel and their engines start, “Gentlemen, start your engines.” Venting is O.K., much better than holding all of your frustrations in, then reaching the point of explosion, enduring internal rants of a silent cacophony of antisocial schizoid hysteria I suppose, or going completely nuts, losing it, and shooting people like they do in Southern California. Does it do any harm? probably. Is it safe?, no, not really. Why don’t we change the laws, make the speed limit seventy again, would people supersede the limit to eighty miles per hour then… yes. It’s just the way things work, but I don’t like it.

Maybe Xun Zi was right. We live in a poor environment, we have no teachers, we need role models, we need to re-think our principles, fully prosper by following the path, learn to know ourselves and control the animal instincts within us, and avoid the influences of the crowds in an unmonitored environment. We need to save ourselves from a mortal immorality, become better people, far above the animals and insects of the world, and take our places on the throne, instead of becoming carrion on the battlefields of unfufilled desires, incessant frustration, and  constant confusion.  We need to survive be alive, mobile victors, and undead; where we have the ability to write the history of our actions as we see it, as it really happened, clean and right, without feeling guilt or remorse. The way that we were intended to live our mortal lives. To better understand ourselves and why we do the things that we do, control them, become disciplined and resist the temptations to fall back into the fold, uneducated and without a doctrine. People, slow down, smell the roses, enjoy life and reduce your stress, chose the right because you want to, not because you have to, be what you should be, happy and enjoy the time you have here. Peace.

1 comment:

  1. Heya Doc,
    I totally agree with you on this topic. The speed limit on the highway around here is 70 mph and guess what . . .everyone goes between 70-80 mph, until a cop is posted to watch everyone go by at 65 mph. I could swear that I'm the only person going the speed limit as I'm constantly being passed by. It makes me wonder what's the big rush. It also makes me laugh when the prices of gas goes up and people complain about it, considering how much gas they burn by going above the speed limit. I go by the model that I'll get there when I get there and if I have to get there early, I'll leave early. It's as simple as that.

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