Now that the carnival season is over and before we delve into Emancipation Month, let’s deal with some brass tacks that ought to be pricking our minds.
I can only relate on my known experiences, but, considering the fact that nothing remains the same, one sometimes has to accept that it is what it is.
To me, most societies, big or small, should have obligatory rules and laws that govern it’s people or society. In my mind, if it is not seen as relevant, the present situation will worsen, because, without laws or guidelines to govern, people are left to do as they please, like in the Stone Age.
In the same way, we have night and day, or established business opening and closing hours, or specific working times. But, to me, without such structured modules it will be difficult or impossible to deal with attitudes of law breakers.
So, for me, to exist in a society all must adhere or comply with the state’s established rules, or be banished, or feeling forced to go into exile.
Let us start with times gone by when I grew up and it was accepted that parents were responsible for the caring and nurturing of their children. The schools, private or public, determined the type of needed education for us to learn the means of coping with societal laws.
It was known that the church took care of all our spiritual needs and concerns from a religious point of view and the government determined what is right or wrong, based on their political ideology. Nobody could do as they pleased or break rules without being asked to give an account of their actions.
In other words, no one is an island and no one should be above the law and do as they please, without general consideration, which can and should land you in trouble.
Fast-faward to today and almost everybody wants to do as they please and transgress all rules, or see them as old-fashioned. For instance, to walk or drive a vehicle on our public roads, there is a code of behavior that goes with that privilege.
Additionally, your vehicle must be insured, you must have a valid drivers license, you must adhere to driving rules and laws, such as where you overtake, or, at what speed you are recommended to drive, the road worthiness of your vehicle, the dimming of lights for upcoming vehicles etc.
But if you check, today, none of these rules and laws are acceptable by all vehicle users.
Take another example… The law says certain products such as intoxicating liquor can only be sold at certain times, and to sell it, you must have a liquor license authorised by the law, but today such rules are not considered as necessary. The same applies to stealing, taking what does not belong to you, or using an unlicensed fire arm, renting from a client and refusing to pay, etc .
My point is: if people want to violate all the governing rules, then, when they get caught or are found guilty of violations of any of thè above said examples, they cry foul. But, why don’t we accept, as a progressing society, that breaking laws have consequences and the state must take certain actions, because, if not, negativity will continue to exist.
People want homes and land, but for free, they need to feed themselves, but also want that too for free, or at somebody else’s expense; some want everything material, but don’t want to work to obtain them. So, how can we remain a society without enforcement?
Who will take the bull by the horns? Who would set the standards? Who will change what is? Who can decide who should comply, or be prosecuted?
We travel to foreign lands and go to other territories, we deal with and accept all their rules and laws, but when it comes to home, nobody wants to accept that laws must be upheld.
We want to establish business whereever we want regardless of rules or regulations and blame the government for not supporting. We pay legal minds to get us off the hook these days. We pay people to kill those we don’t like. We work without standards or principles. We make excuses for all our shortcuts and have an excuse for all our actions.
But really, how long can we leave things as they presently exist?
I say Give unto Cesar what belongs to him and if you want to live without stress or distress, or learn to toe-the-line, then you need to live in private.
And finally, I say that we must stop feeling sorry for law-breaking and for those who care not for governing rules; and if you pay no taxes or Social Security, how do you expect the state to care for you in your time of distress?
Make that make sense for me!