When the rules no longer matter
Without rules, society stumbles. With rules, unenforced, society still stumbles. In the ongoing saga at the T.O. City Hall, His Honour The Mayor believes he is being “punished for admitting drug use”. Right. We wish.
Trying to keep track of how many laws are broken, every day; no accounting system can handle the numbers involved. Take, as an example, the rules of the road that EVERY licensed driver learns, is tested on and agrees to obey. During my five to ten minute wait for the bus each morning, I stand near a four-way stop. And I watch. I can count the number of people that obey the most fundamental of traffic requirements. They don’t stop. They don’t signal turns. They don’t even pretend to respect the speed limit. Even though every car comes with a mandatory speedometer and signal lights. It’s not a mechanical problem.
As I cross the street at my mid-city bus stop, I have a controlled pedestrian light. I also have to take evasive action – EVERY day. Two small examples of a larger malaise. No wonder His Honor believes that he is the aggrieved party in this whole thing. He’s among the majority!
Mustn’t get stuck in this rut. Maybe a retreat to an island (the Island?) in a very rural area is in order. A place where I’m less confronted with the endemic failure to obey (by others). For the record, I do stop and signal and obey the limits. I have never tried to use my wheel time as a practice session for maiming others. I can brag about it, even if nobody else cares.
