So, I've just had a realization about myself. I am someone who strictly adheres to rules. I think I take comfort in the order that rules provide. And I also have this finely-tuned sense of fairness and justice. Sometimes, I am such a stickler about rules that I can't see beyond them. I remember when I was younger, I would tell friends, "Don't climb on that. You're not supposed to go in there. Don't do that because it's dangerous. Wear a condom." I'm all about rules.
Which makes me a real hardass at the library. Where my co-workers are likely to let certain things slide, I won't. I hardly ever cancel fines because I don't think it's fair to other people. You do the crime, you do the time. Some part of me feels that rules are there for a reason. That they create order in society. And I don't like bending or breaking them. This is both a good and bad thing. But definitely something I need to recognize about myself.
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You know, I've noticed that Americans in general are rule followers. OK, not as obsessivly as the Swiss, where they trust you to pay for your newspaper without locking it up, but way more so than the French. I have never once seen an American try to board a bus through the back doors without paying. That happens in France all the time. When I was in Quebec with my French friend Sophie, we were out hiking. There was an ice covered lake. and a sign saying don't go on the ice. and a rope. Sophie's all, hey! let's go on the ice! and starts to climb under the rope. I'm all, um, the rope? the sign? there for a reason! to protect me! (she did not fall through the ice, nor did I venture out onto it.)
The only real purpose of any rule is to guide one on how to properly break it.
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