Blind Adherence

I have been thinking a lot about this lately. At what point does an individual in a free society have the right and the responsibility to question a rule or a procedure?

The logic behind some rules is self-evident. It is pointless to question the traffic laws because they have been put in place to protect people. Is it pointless however to question parking laws? I mean, who has been saved by a $30 fine I got because I parked 5 minutes past the time on the parking ticket I purchased for $12? I can understand the need to pay for parking because that money (hopefully) goes towards improving the streets and boulevards of our fair city. But paying 30 buckeroos for 5 minutes is exorbitant. The city punked me.

What about a rule that is meted out randomly and without logic? When do rules become tyranny?

A friend of mine has taken it upon herself to organize a project that will give students valuable, mandatory volunteer hours, and will help in the collection of books that seem to go missing in alarming amounts every year. A worthy project, don'tcha think?

Now, why is it necessary that she MUST get that poster signed by the principal and TWO vice principals? Why must the poster be signed at all? Are teachers not mostly responsible adults who can make a judgement call about what a poster's contents should be? And if that individual is a knucklehead (and there are a few of those in every environment) who does post something inappropriate, would that individual not have a reality check waiting for him/her in the mail? So what the hell?

My friend had to go through an assembly line of idiocy to achieve something productive, like she was asking for permission to start a terrorist club. I mean, come on? Will her proposed project not save the school money and by extension save money for the Board and the tax payers? Not to mention the fact that if this woman, my friend, came to me and said she has a project in the wings, I would know that is a worthy project. I have never seen a more organized, thoughtful, smart and considerate individual. She is a person who frikken cares in an environment filled with blind adherence. She deserves an award for that alone, not a torture session.

So here I sit, absolutely bemused about a system that has no thought or common sense behind it. It's like we're a factory of people churned by a robotic crew representing the Bureacrats of Political Sanitation. I say, down with blind adherence. I can in no good conscience not question a rule and a procedure that makes no sense on any level. This "rule" was established by micro-managers who cannot manage to tie their shoelaces, or moo-moo sashes without direction.

I will question until I am blue in the face, because I am a thinking and vital individual who refuses to be hoodwinked, especially not by those who are not even worthy of making sure there is enough toilet paper in the stalls.