Assignment

Read the following quotes taken from Chapter 3 of What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20.

With your partner discuss the questions below.

“The rules made by society are a huge presence in our lives, created by the government, religious groups, our employers, our schools, our neighbors, and our families. Because these social groups craft the explicit rules around us, we often find ourselves in situations where we are driven to break them to satisfy our personal desires or the drives of our species.” p/33

“Everyday, physical signs tell all of us what to do, written instructions direct us how to behave, and social guidelines urge us to act within specific parameters. In fact, we also make lots of rules for ourselves, in large part encouraged by others. These rules become woven into our individual fabric as we go through life.” p/33

“We draw imaginary lines around what we think we can do – lines that often limit us much more than the rules imposed by society at large.” p/33

“We define ourselves by our professions, our income, where we live, the car we drive, our education, and even by our horoscope. Each definition locks us into specific assumptions about who we are and what we can do.” p/34

“We always make our own prisons, with rules that we each create for ourselves, locking us into specific roles and out of an endless array of possibilities.” p/34

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Do you agree with these quotes?

I agree. We're living in our own shell, never thinkin of breaking out of it. Once we step out, we taste a different flavor of a different world colored with a variety of outlandish concepts. WE need to break the mold!


When is a rule really just a suggestion? And when do suggestions morph into rules?

With some exceptions, rules are mostly suggestions, suggestions created by our society or sometimes a minority. For example, "It's bad to litter" is a suggestion commonly agreed upon by many people for the sake of keeping our place clean. When we become obsessed with suggestions, however, they shift into rules, and this isn't good.

What are the consequences – good and bad – of getting “off the prescribed path” (breaking the rules)?

Good thing is, we become audacious( not sure about the spell), and dare to go for whatever seems chellengable. We come to be fearless and vibrant, luckily sometimes stumbling upon life time opportunities.

Bad is, we can end up behind the bars, or physically hurt from unexpected assualts. It's a crapshoot, a gamble in which your choice leads to a result good or bad.

What happens to those who break the rules?

Judging from some cases where school drop-outs turned out very sucessful in the end, as long as it's not about breaking legal, ethical rules, people see better by breaking the "rules".