Break the rules!!
OMG! So many rules!!
Make your own rules!!
Life is no fun without breaking rules!!
There are rules. Everywhere. There are rules to trade on the Newyork stock exchange. There are traffic rules. There are rules for a school kid, to polish his shoes. Again, there are rules, everywhere. We are now in a world where there is rule book for a school kid going to Kindergarten to a young adult buying his new vehicle, rules for walking, driving, flying and sometimes even standing. We are so used to rules that we make our own set of rules to our children - no TV after 9PM or no writing on the walls.
The four lines at the starting of the post are how most people react when they hear the word rules. One can understand that with so many rules, one is fed up to follow any more of them. So we have people riding bikes without helmets, people jumping the signals to get back home quickly, whining about the security checks at the mall, whining about the rules at work etc. Then there are also people who look for a way past rules, looking for a loop hole or twist the rules in our favor. When everyone is so upset with rules, there are new and new rules being added in the rule books everyday - starting from the constitutions of the nations to the set of rules at home. Why is this happening?
I was shocked to read that before 1990s, the pilots left the cockpit doors open during the flight. Till as recent as 2003-04, there were no metal detectors in the malls. There were fewer road rules till a few years back. The first anti-terrorist unit was started after the Munich Olympics disaster. There were no clear rules to investigate money laundering and financial fraud till the Satyam's fiasco. Its clear by the trend that we are bringing this on ourselves.The making of a rule is always because of a person who has caused his fellow beings some pain. Hence the concerned governing bodies make rules to prevent the repetition of the event.
The financial melt down of the US economy, allegedly caused by the greed of the financial services industry of US, drove millions of people jobless around the world. The largest consumers of dirty fuel - the Telco's and the IT giants of the world, are causing irreparable damage to the environment. These instances show that sometimes, when we tweak the rules, we may not foresee the damage or the extent of the damage. A simple example could be a drunk person, driving a car. The car, which has now become a weapon in his hands, has the potential to cause immense pain not only to that person but also to innocent people on the road. A housewife demanding plastic carry bags from the shopkeeper would not understand that her small act may lead to so many environmental problems, which are fatal for her children's generation. Hence, we should understand that sometimes, the rules are made for greater good, which we may not understand at that point.
"You are remembered for the rules you break", as said by Douglas Mc Arthur, the chief of US Army during world war 2. The story of Rajat Gupta, who was indicted for insider trading, makes a perfect example for the quote. His life story has been a perfect fairy tale of fulfillment of an American dream: orphaned at 18, graduation from IIT Delhi, MBA from Harvard, first non-American managing director (worldwide) of McKinsey and Co, director of Goldman Sach's board, director of Procter & Gamble's board, adviser to the UN Secretary General, trustee of Rockefeller Foundation, adviser of several prestigious companies and NGOs, personally worth $84 million. He was the brain behind, and one of the founding fathers of, ISB Hyderabad; he contributed significantly to make it a world-class institution. When the government instituted the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, he was the first Indian-American to be honored. Gupta, at the peak of his career, could do no wrong; he was wining and dining with the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan. All it took was the greed to make $50-100 million of easy money. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, June 23rd 2012)
Albert Einstein said "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else". The fact that the existence of rules are only for the betterment of us and also the people around us is somehow missing. Let us understand that a game is said to be played well, only when it is played within the rules.
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OMG! So many rules!!
Make your own rules!!
Life is no fun without breaking rules!!
There are rules. Everywhere. There are rules to trade on the Newyork stock exchange. There are traffic rules. There are rules for a school kid, to polish his shoes. Again, there are rules, everywhere. We are now in a world where there is rule book for a school kid going to Kindergarten to a young adult buying his new vehicle, rules for walking, driving, flying and sometimes even standing. We are so used to rules that we make our own set of rules to our children - no TV after 9PM or no writing on the walls.
The four lines at the starting of the post are how most people react when they hear the word rules. One can understand that with so many rules, one is fed up to follow any more of them. So we have people riding bikes without helmets, people jumping the signals to get back home quickly, whining about the security checks at the mall, whining about the rules at work etc. Then there are also people who look for a way past rules, looking for a loop hole or twist the rules in our favor. When everyone is so upset with rules, there are new and new rules being added in the rule books everyday - starting from the constitutions of the nations to the set of rules at home. Why is this happening?
I was shocked to read that before 1990s, the pilots left the cockpit doors open during the flight. Till as recent as 2003-04, there were no metal detectors in the malls. There were fewer road rules till a few years back. The first anti-terrorist unit was started after the Munich Olympics disaster. There were no clear rules to investigate money laundering and financial fraud till the Satyam's fiasco. Its clear by the trend that we are bringing this on ourselves.The making of a rule is always because of a person who has caused his fellow beings some pain. Hence the concerned governing bodies make rules to prevent the repetition of the event.
The financial melt down of the US economy, allegedly caused by the greed of the financial services industry of US, drove millions of people jobless around the world. The largest consumers of dirty fuel - the Telco's and the IT giants of the world, are causing irreparable damage to the environment. These instances show that sometimes, when we tweak the rules, we may not foresee the damage or the extent of the damage. A simple example could be a drunk person, driving a car. The car, which has now become a weapon in his hands, has the potential to cause immense pain not only to that person but also to innocent people on the road. A housewife demanding plastic carry bags from the shopkeeper would not understand that her small act may lead to so many environmental problems, which are fatal for her children's generation. Hence, we should understand that sometimes, the rules are made for greater good, which we may not understand at that point.
"You are remembered for the rules you break", as said by Douglas Mc Arthur, the chief of US Army during world war 2. The story of Rajat Gupta, who was indicted for insider trading, makes a perfect example for the quote. His life story has been a perfect fairy tale of fulfillment of an American dream: orphaned at 18, graduation from IIT Delhi, MBA from Harvard, first non-American managing director (worldwide) of McKinsey and Co, director of Goldman Sach's board, director of Procter & Gamble's board, adviser to the UN Secretary General, trustee of Rockefeller Foundation, adviser of several prestigious companies and NGOs, personally worth $84 million. He was the brain behind, and one of the founding fathers of, ISB Hyderabad; he contributed significantly to make it a world-class institution. When the government instituted the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, he was the first Indian-American to be honored. Gupta, at the peak of his career, could do no wrong; he was wining and dining with the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan. All it took was the greed to make $50-100 million of easy money. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, June 23rd 2012)
Albert Einstein said "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else". The fact that the existence of rules are only for the betterment of us and also the people around us is somehow missing. Let us understand that a game is said to be played well, only when it is played within the rules.
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