TASK #32: September 10th–September 17th
“One of my problems is that I internalize everything. I can’t express anger; I grow a tumor instead”. Woody Allen
You know what your elected-official is doing at this moment? He/she is thinking up some regulation that they can slap on us.
As humans in a free society we are remarkable un-free. We are free in the sense that that we are free to follow the rules. If you break them then you will not be free. And where there’s rules, there are regulations, there are laws. Everything we eat, drink, touch, drive and wear is completely regulated. There are laws that cover other laws.
Sometimes I feel like I’m in a maze and I can’t get out. I get frustrated. I get angry. I’ve got an ANGRY MAN in my head, and the angry man wants to break a few laws–and regulations.
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And there is legal system to sort it all out.
To put it in context, think about your local restaurant. If it’s like the one in my neighborhood, it has a letter grade hanging in the front window–thanks to a regulation. It’s signage is regulated, its sanitation is regulated, its chef is regulated (licensed in my state), it’s alcohol is regulated, its equipment is regulated, and even its menu is regulated.
Our streets are regulated and our cars are regulated. So is our water, our gas, even our air is regulated…
And I’m tired of typing “regulated”.
I wonder what it was like to be around in the early 1800s, when there was about a million fewer regulations than there are now.
I chafe at all these rule, regulations and laws. Sometimes I don’t want to wear a seatbelt. Sometimes I want to get drunk in public. Or drink milk that isn’t pasteurized. I envy the guy I saw run shirtless into the outfield of a major league baseball game and I booed the security guys who rounded him up.
Sometimes I feel like I’m in a maze and I can’t get out. I get frustrated. I get angry. I’ve got an ANGRY MAN in my head, and the angry man wants to break a few laws–and regulations.
But I won’t. I’m a law-abiding man. A citizen and a man for others.But I had to make a statement, even if it was a tiny whisper of a statement. So I did this:
I went to an office supply store and bought several rolls of tape–one red, one white, a blue and so on and I decorated the no-parking sign at my house.
I marked my turf and I broke a local ordinance by defacing the sign.
Too bad.
TASK
Do what I done. And send me a picture. [email protected]
Photo by Natã Figueiredo on Unsplash