DO NOT READ ME

If you opened this post, I am happy to announce you are human. 

Congratulations. 

Why is it that, when someone commands us NOT to do something, we are invariably tempted to do it anyway – even if we weren’t interested in doing it in the first place? 

I am a law-abiding lady, but a terrible rule-breaker. Who can help it when people with whistles are telling you:

You can’t swim with a face mask in a public pool. 

Don’t walk on the grass. 

Don’t try to go through a yellow light. 

Don’t walk across the street on red, even if there are no cars coming from either direction. 

Don’t enter the subway as the doors are closing. 

Don’t sit on that wall – it’s dangerous. 

Is it that the rules are petty or that we feel bossed around and mildly insulted by the micro-managing of strangers? 

Perhaps the most glaring example of over-regulation I can think of is found at the gate of my apartment complex. 

There are two push-dial gates which let those with key cards enter the complex. Between these pedestrian gates and the guard station is a larger gate for bikes. Sometimes I didn’t have the key card, so I went through the bike gate. Over time I became friendly with a couple of the guards and enjoyed exchanging smiles and nods as I went to and from the supermarket or subway station. 

But then, SOMEONE decided that shouldn’t be allowed. So a second gate was installed so that, for anyone to go in or out, two gates had to be opened…by the guard. 

The pleasant guards now seem to think it’s too much trouble to open both gates, so this new, frivolous rule has tampered with a bright spot in my walks. 

I think THAT is why I’m tempted to break rules, because people set up rules to stop you from doing something that doesn’t hurt anybody and that could bring a little more sunshine into your day. 

In fact, I’m fairly sure I had a part in the making of two new rules myself – but I’ll never know for sure. 

First, I take DD – a driving company – cars once in awhile as it’s more convenient than the subway. One day I was out with my mom and a sister and I called for a shared car. There was an extra seat left, but the driver got really upset, worrying that someone might call and need seats for two. I had never seen any rule about this, otherwise I would have called for an exclusive vehicle, but as it was my mom was tired and we had stuff to carry and basically just wanted to get home, so in the end the driver grudgingly relented. 

The NEXT time I called for a shared car, however, there was a button where I had to tell if I was traveling with one person or two. Never saw that button before. Coincidence? I’d tend to think not. Maybe I just like the idea of being the one to make a large company change its policy? (Evil grin)

The second law I may or may not have put into effect was on a smaller scale. Again, at times I don’t have my gate key on me. So sometimes in our subdivision, I would go under or around the traffic bar. Traffic there is light to nonexistent, so again I didn’t feel like it was dangerous or detrimental. But within a few weeks of my moving into the area, bars were placed in the gaps around the traffic bar and vertical slats were installed from the bar to the ground. 

Again, maybe it had nothing to do with me. But, who knows? 

What do you think? Do you have that same inner drive to rebel against petty prohibitions? Oh wait, I already know the answer to that…YOU READ MY POST!

Cheers!

P.S. WordPress is full of rebels. This post has the most views of any I’ve written so far! =D