I never really understood the reasons why some people create rules for themselves for no other reason that just for the sake of having rules to follow.
They establish rules, standards and pre-conceived notions about how things should be. And having set those rules, they become prisoner to those very same rules that they created for themselves in the first place.
They deny themselves the flexibility, the openness of mind and heart to changes, differences of opinion from their own, and - most of all - dissent from other parties. They shut themselves out from others who do not live by those rules. And when things do not go their way, while others are happily sailing along sans the unnecessarily shackles, they throw their hands up in the air and say "Oh, those crooked people probably went through the back door. That's not the way to do things. We know better."
The worst of this category of dogmatic fools are the ones who, having established these irrational rules, thereupon start imposing their rules and value system on others - walking around with the holier-than-thou notion that those who do not follow their rules are the uncivilised, the heathen, the condemned lot who will fail in life... and afterlife.
If you cannot rationalise with me about why something "should" be a certain way, apart from telling me that it's your God-forsaken rules, then please take your rules elsewhere. Do not quote lines in your "Book of Rules" to me, as if I am bound by your irrational belief system. Conformance for no reason is plain bollocks.
Do not get me wrong - I am not against the idea of a person living by his or her principles, ethics and codes of conduct. That is an entirely different thing altogether. Principles define one's value system and the essence of one's conduct. But rules made just for the sake of having something to follow like a security blanket, is - to me - plain stupid. Anyone who tells me that "there is a lot to be said about protocol and decorum" when the situation calls for flexibility, compassion and survival, ought to be given a rap on the head for being so darn thick.
Oh... and I forgot to mention that in my experience, most of these prisoners of rules fall under one or more of the following three (3) broad categories: (1) Overly-educated (2) Severely-disillusioned (3) Fear-stricken. They whip themselves into this vicious cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies, preferring to just toss their hands in despair, staying at home eating just boiled rice and drinking plain water, and have deleted the word "change" from their vocabulary. Status quo. Stick to the rules. Better to be miserable for life, than to be pitted with uncertainty. Uncertainty is dangerous.
A member of the academic staff at one of my former institutions of learning (I shall not mention names and locations, except to say that the individual was a woman) once told the students: "Adventure is a romantic word for trouble". How I wish I could hurl a bucket of muddy water at her today. If everyone had that sort of dead-locked, fear-restrained, change-averse and non-progressive attitude, we would all be back in the Stone Age living off potatoes and dead animal carcasses. Oh, I'm sorry... it's dangerous to hunt. Too risky. That's against the rules. So, no dead animal carcasses. We'll stick to the potatoes.
My rant for the week.
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