To follow a rule or follow the meaning
Having worked in insurance claims for almost 10 years, I can testify to the difficulty of trying to differentiate between our Society’s established rules and the purpose of what they serve. Many times accidents are not caused by breaking a rule or civic code but by creating a hazard that prevents one from caring out that said rules. My co-workers and I spend hours explaining the rules, regulations, vehicle codes and how they interact. It’s part of the reason I love my job. No two claims are ever the same!
But it got me thinking. At what point do rules and they purpose they serve collide? I’m sure we have all run into this problem. When it’s illegal to steal but someone is starving. When there are processes in place to allow immigrants to enter this country legally but several are escaping a harmful, dehumanizing home country and either run across the border or swim against the seas. It’s probably the one thing that many news articles boil down to: the ethics of rules.
I wish I could remember the book that talked about rules and why someone might break them. That the greater people of the world learned how to look past the paperwork to see the goodness in people and their purpose. I know personally that while I follow the major laws in place–I will gladly follow the purpose of a rule if I end up breaking the formality. Humanity is greater than politics. Empathy and care is greater than regulations.
Sometimes the rules are meant to be broken 😉
Musings of An AfterThought 
November 19, 2015 at 13:24
it is very interesting to think about. I just finished reading a book about people who took Jews into hiding so that they would not have to live in the Ghettos or be sent away to camps or killed. It was illegal, yes. But it also seemed right.