© Lucienne Bouvier 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation
May 26, 2013
Listen to Audio Version of Whole Service (mp3)
Listen to Audio Version of Sermon (mp3)
Human beings are social animals. As such, we have many rules, laws, commands and social structures that govern our lives. We have rules we follow governing how we interact with one another, how we drive, how we behave at work or school.
Some of our most famous events in history involve the writing of laws and rules:
Some rules are considered so important that they take on transcendent qualities, like the Hebrew Bible, including the 10 commandments. Some individuals follow these rules as if they have magical qualities; if you don't follow the rules exactly, the magic doesn't work.
I started thinking about this topic because of my nephew. My nephew attended West Point. As a lot of young men do, one of the games they like to play is figuring out to follow the letter of the law, but outwit the actual rule.
West Point had a rule against the cadets using portable DVD players because it was felt to be distracting for them. Instead of studying, there was a worry the cadets would watch movies instead.
Now, the iPods with movie capabilities were new at that point. So some of the cadets, nephew included, took to watching movies on their iPods, nephew included. After all, they were following the rules! No DVD players allowed; they weren't watching DVD players after all!
Of course, the intent of the rule is to help the cadets stay focused on their school work. And realistically, young men can find an awful lot of ways to distract themselves. You can't think of ALL the different rules needed to make them focus on their work.
However, they aren't thinking of the WHY of the rule; only how to get away with something - how to break the rule without breaking it.
I, myself, have been known to disregard rules that I think don't make sense. There are a couple of local left turn lights that take a VERY long time to change. I've been known to go through them. After all, the intent of the law is to make sure that drivers don't turn unsafely in front of oncoming traffic. As long as there is no traffic coming, and there isn't a cop around, who cares? Right?
So, is it OK for us to decide which rules we follow and which ones we don't? That is a disaster for an army - a group that HAS to follow commands, or people could die! Or people DO die, as a result of foolish commands, as in the case of Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman appears to have died as a result of a superior officer's orders, from thousands of miles away, being given to Tillman's platoon commander. The lieutenant, the platoon commander, felt these orders were a big mistake. He was the expert in the field, an Army Ranger, the guy who was there. Against his better judgement, he followed orders, and men died.
The excuse of "I was just following orders" didn't work in the case of the Nuremberg trials, the Military Tribunals held by the Allied Forces to prosecute the prominent leaders of Nazi Germany; or the My Lai Massacre, the Vietnam War massacre of between 347 and 504 civilians including women, children, infants and the elderly. So even soldiers are expected to use judgement in extreme circumstances.
Some of our most memorable heroes are folks who chose civil disobedience. Recall Henry David Thoreau's famous essay Resistance to Civil Government. He believed that individuals have the duty to not follow laws that enable the government to be an agent of injustice.
Mahatma Ghandi is one of those heroes. The British Empire taxed Indian salt to the point where English salt was cheaper. Ghandi and his supporters began a long, expanding march to transport the salt for sale without paying the exorbitant tax. The march was severely suppressed by the government, but the event was an important catalyst for the future. It was inspiring for the participants, it showed how much power the Indian populace had, AND it stimulated acts of civil disobedience in the future. As an example, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was significantly influenced by this example and used it in his strategies in the Civil Rights Movement.
These men thought that the rules were unfair, so they disregarded them and fought against them. Indeed, they had to face punishment. But we admire that they were willing to be punished for what they believe in.
So I think we all agree that we shouldn't follow stupid rules. We even make lists of ridiculous laws still on the books that are outmoded or outdated. But I think it's important that we consider the WHY of laws. That helps us to decide which ones we feel comfortable following or not. I think we really have to consider the intent of the law to know if we are comfortable with it.
How we decide to follow these rules tells a lot about who we are and what we value in our lives.
Is the law or rule being used to exclude or discriminate against a group of people?
Is a law being used to take away rights from specific people?
Does the law or rule encourage peace, liberty and justice?
Does the law respect the living world around us, or does it seek to exploit or even destroy it?
Does the law inhibit our spiritual freedom?
Does it prevent participation in self-governance?
Do we lose even a part of our humanity when we enact certain laws?
These are the questions we must ask about our laws. This is how we resolve the questions of how far we go following laws and rules.
And this is a very personal journey. There is no exact answer.
So I'll probably keep turning left at those miserable left turn signals, as long as there is no oncoming traffic, and no cop. After all, I may get a ticket for not following the letter of the law.
But as I ponder the more important rules, I will try to keep our UU principles in mind.