Tuesday, September 27, 2005
To Obey or Not to Obey
Without laws and rules, our countries, and our societies could not function. But the laws would mean nothing if no one obeyed them. Why then do people obey rules and laws? It is certainly less expensive and time consuming to obey the law--that is, not get caught disobeying the law. So do we obey for convenience?
Since birth we have been told to do this, and not do that, to sit still in school and to pay for candy at the check-out. When we do what the teacher tells us we are rewarded with a good grade, and then our parents pat us on the back and we feel good about ourselves. So can behavior be determined by rewards and punishments? If we exercise and eat fruits and vegetables we feel better; if we drive the speed limit we don't get a ticket. Is our obedience, then, the result of the consequences of all our choices since birth?
Perhaps we obey laws because not to would make us outcasts: feared and distrusted. And yet sometimes people have knowingly alienated themselves because of their beliefs about obedience to widely unaccepted mandates. In religion especially, there are many cases where obeying a regulation of religion distances a person from society. And yet they still abide by their principles.
I must then conclude that it is not solely for convenience or image's sake that a person obeys a law. A person obeys a law because of a desire within themselves, to do the best they can for only themselves and God. To keep a law is to make such a person feel safer, even when perhaps they are increasing the danger others might do to them because of their beliefs. Hence, the main reason why we as a majority obey laws is because we want to.
Since birth we have been told to do this, and not do that, to sit still in school and to pay for candy at the check-out. When we do what the teacher tells us we are rewarded with a good grade, and then our parents pat us on the back and we feel good about ourselves. So can behavior be determined by rewards and punishments? If we exercise and eat fruits and vegetables we feel better; if we drive the speed limit we don't get a ticket. Is our obedience, then, the result of the consequences of all our choices since birth?
Perhaps we obey laws because not to would make us outcasts: feared and distrusted. And yet sometimes people have knowingly alienated themselves because of their beliefs about obedience to widely unaccepted mandates. In religion especially, there are many cases where obeying a regulation of religion distances a person from society. And yet they still abide by their principles.
I must then conclude that it is not solely for convenience or image's sake that a person obeys a law. A person obeys a law because of a desire within themselves, to do the best they can for only themselves and God. To keep a law is to make such a person feel safer, even when perhaps they are increasing the danger others might do to them because of their beliefs. Hence, the main reason why we as a majority obey laws is because we want to.
# posted by dancer @ 3:24 PM 
