Rules without Reason

Rules should not be created to be broken, but they should not be created to follow blindly. Behind every rule should lie a reason. We do not run red lights to create order and safety on the streets. But one should not mindlessly sit at a broken red light, in an empty street, forever. We have laws against killing, yet we would hopefully never ask someone to sacrifice themselves from the violence of others or crucify them upon their defense. We have social rules about how we should act towards others. We have rules at home that guide and dictate our behavior, but we all know there are exceptions to those rules.          

Reason must always supersede a rule. Rules should change and adapt as the world around us changes and adapts. There were once no traffic lights, until the boom of motorized vehicles and the deaths that ensued without such restrictions. We once had laws and rules that stated men and woman stood no equal footing in society. That being of a different culture or race was wrong. Once we looked upon the Irish with disdain. We created an entire law and border patrol to prevent the Chinese from entering our country. We enslaved black men and women, only to codify racism in the post enslavement era. These rules and laws were not simply swept away with time. They required rule breakers. They required people to stand up. They required free thought and action.

Reason must always supersede the rule. A rule without reason must crumble without such a foundation. Reason must always prevail. Rules with reason should always be worth living and dying for. 

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This first appeared in The Havok Journal on December 10, 2024.

Jake Smith is a law enforcement officer and former Army Ranger with four deployments to Afghanistan.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.