Beth's Blog: Musings & rants on books, writing & anything else that strikes my fancy...'cause it's my blog!
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Right and Wrong - Living by the Rules
This is what I have learned in the past three years:
(rules = moral code/conduct)
There are no rules.
There should be rules.
We each have our own rules.
I have to live by my rules.
Your rules contradict my rules.
I can only be with people who live by rules similar to my own.
I wish there were universal rules.
I think there are.
Why do some people not play by the rules?
There are no rules.
It takes me awhile to figure things out - if indeed I have actually figured anything out. I am a bit slow - a less derogatory word would be naïve.
And, yes, I once learned the rules in kindergarten or at my mother’s knee but I possess a knock-my-head-against-the-wall tendency to forget and/or keep them straight.
Were you looking for sense and logic in this post? Regarding life and rules?? At times, common sense, logic and fair play don’t exist. I’ve learned that, too.
photo credit: http://www.easyhealth.org.uk
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21 comments:
Not only should there be rules; there should be deadlines/timelines in our society so that life can go on.
Sounds a bit frustrating. Hang tough, and that's a rule.
As Logan said to Butch Cassidy, "there ain't no rules in a knife fight". He was right, but it got him a kick in the groin.
All I know is that Rule 34 has no exceptions.
So what game are we talking about? If it's Monopoly, can I be the Boot?
I used to be more convinced [than I am today] that there were universal rules, I guess I mean in a moral sense. And that everyone was under the same obligation to play/live by them.
Personally, I think that the information age has changed all of that [at least for me]. But one thing has not changed, and that is the Rule that what we do should not intentionally harm or violate another person or animal.*
That one important Rule should be the unalterable one [see footnote].
* Unless it involves the making of hamburger. You could say that my code of ethics is very... umm.... un-Hindu.
Last night I went to a "comedy" show in which a woman (middlish middle-age) kept complaining that "she didn't get the manual for life." Is that similar to the rulebook?
I would like to ignore certain rules, but I have an overactive guilty conscience and it tortures me so.
Rules, shmules. We can't count on people playing by them, doing the right thing. The most you can hope is to play by your own rules/ethics. I have a post-it that says, "Are you living by your code of ethics today?" posted over my computer so that I stop and think about it every day. It's not always easy, but I'm finding it easier as I get older. Let's right some goodies and find some others to play along!
We really all play by different rules I believe. I used to be annoyed when people didn't respect what I considered a rule, until I realized it wasn't the same rule for them.
God, this is complicated. Empathy helps a lot I guess. And common-sense.
to hell with em all... ;) lol
'ceptin, mebe, these from ol mark:
Twain's Rules of Writing
(from Mark Twain's scathing essay on the Literary Offenses of James Fenimore Cooper)
1. A tale shall accomplish something, and arrive somewhere.
2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it.
3. The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.
4. The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse... for being there.
5. When the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, a show of relevancy, remain in the neighborhood of the subject in hand, be interesting to the reader, help out the tale, and stop... when the people cannot think of anything more to say.
6. When the author describes the character of a personage in his tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description.
7. When a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a Negro minstrel at the end of it.
8. Crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader by either the author or the people in the tale.
9. The personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities, and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plauseably set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable.
10. The author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones.
11. The characters in tale be so clearly defined the reader can tell, beforehand, what each will do in a given emergency.
An author should:
12. "Say" what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it
13. Use the right word, not its second cousin
14. Eschew surplusage
15. Not omit necessary details
16. Avoid slovenliness of form
17. Use good grammar
18. Employ a simple, straightforward style
There are no rules for the rich and famous. For the rest of us, the rules are contrived on the spot by the authority who decides we are in the wrong.
Cheers,
Robyn
Oh please, the people that live by the rules are normal people. The ones that don't play by the rules are the ones that shouldn't be in our lives. Maybe they stay in our lives because they can't get over us! Just sayin' I've heard of court cases that wrap up in months!
Only the past three years? Did everything in your life make sense before that? :)
the great truth is rules are made to be broken. i hate rules. i like the thrill of breaking rules. it's gotten me in trouble more than a few times.
but rules are completely different than ethics. it's possible to be an ethical person who breaks rules.
what i hate are other people's rules. those are the ones which often do not pertain to me.
i hate do not walk on the grass and no trespassing rules.
i hate the do not bring food into the movie theater rule.
i like the golden rule.
it should be the only rule. in a perfect world perhaps.
Rules only apply to those who break them, my father used to say.
Email me your address, Beth, you've won the giveaway.
Beth...do not be discouraged or give up...my theory is that there are two groups of people, those to whom common decency and respect are paramount and those who are completely oblivious. It feels much better to stay with the first group, but I know how tough it is. I guess where winning and loosing are involved the hardest part is thinking like the the other side...and not getting sideswiped in the process. I hear you, it is tough. Don't let it mess you up, stick to your guns, yell ALOT...and make sure you get want you want.
GO girl!
"I can only be with people who live by rules similar to my own."
This one is also true for me!
We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. 'Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten, but 'Once upon a time' lasts forever.
-- Philip Pullman --
2 rules:
Treat others(animals included) as you want to be treated
Do your best.
All other rules, take with a grain of salt.
Works for me, and for those who don't play by any rules, Hope your having a good time.
Pfffft. Rules! Who need'em! lol
Here's a rule: You, Elisabeth, will be completely and utterly fine. xo
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