Rules

The other night when I was drafting my commitments article, I know in myself that I would not be able to publish it on time. But I was asking myself if I should continue drafting it or break my one article per day. I cannot remember the last time that I have missed a day of publishing an article but I think it was probably when my phone died on me. I think I was MIA for a week and if I remember it correctly I know I mentioned before that I have only missed 9 days of no articles and now it is 10.

So why was I not able to publish an article last Thursday night? It was because I have reached my bedtime. After what happened to me when I last went to the supermarket, I tried to adjust my sleeping time. I gave myself a new rule and that is to sleep by 12AM. 10 or 20 minutes late is ok but beyond that is against my rule. I started drafting my article past 10PM because my brain was not working. I had a few breaks in between because I needed to bring our dogs out to pee. So when it was already 12AM, I was still not finish with my article and so I decided to call it a night.

Do you have rules for yourself? Aside from sleeping by 12AM, I have also made a rule to not sleep during daytime. I know I will have more rules if I am to start my weight loss journey but for now, I only have those 2.

We are all aware that in every rule, there is a penalty if we violate it. I remembered one of @Bjorn's article before when he talked about rules or when he violated a traffic rule if I remembered it correctly. Have you violated any rules in your life? Whether it was your own rule, your parents', traffic, school, company, game or whatnot, what rule have you violated? What was your penalty?

We all have violated some rules and lile what I have said to Bjorn, I was caught jaywalking when I went to South when I was in college. It was an honest mistake as I really did not see the big sign that says, NO JAYWALKING. LOL. A week before that I also went to South and I crossed that same road but no one approached me. My mind was all over the places that I really did not notice the sign. They brought me in a small office and asked for my identification cards. They asked me if I were to do community service or pay the fine. I am not sure if it was Php500 (around $10) or Php1000 (around $20) but I paid for it. They issued a receipt for my fine but what I was worried about during those times was if I was going to have a criminal or police record. Who would want a record right? I did not do the community service because I am not from South and I was only there to print my debut invitation cards. I was really hurt because the allowance that I have saved went straight to my penalty. However, that is what we get when we break a rule.

Do you have a penalty for yourself when you break your own rules? With my own rules, I still do not have any because I cannot think of what sanction to give to myself. What do you think would be a great penalty if I were to sleep late or if I were to sleep during daytime? When I cheated on my diet before, I would double my exercises as punishment for eating the foods that were not allowed. If there would be punishments in every violation of rule, some people will learn from it.

Now that we are under pandemic, what do you think would be the best punishment for people who will violate the rules? I have said before that I seldom break the rules specifically in work but if I am employed during this tough times, I think I would not break the rule of wearing face masks and face shields. I am used in wearing those when I go out even when I am inside our car. The moment I stepped out of the house, I already have worn my protective gears on me. A monetary penalty would be unfair since a lot of people have no jobs and their problem is also money. I saw some punishments before for people who still go out even if there is curfew or who were caught drinking or playing Mobile Legends and their punishment was they were brought in an open field or a basketball court and they had to pretend that they were drinking or playing. It was a good punishment though they just gathered all the violators on one place . Even if they observed social distancing, I am not ok with that.

Why do we find it hard to follow some rules? Are rules really meant to be broken just like promises? Are we not disciplined enough to follow such rules? I suddenly thought of the days when I was still a student and when I was an employee especially when the rule was NO EATING. LOL. I used to eat inside the classroom when our teacher went out or even when our professor was discussing. I am also used to eating in work while I am still on duty. But there was a company that I have worked with where it was really hard to eat especially if you know that the rest of your workmates are really following the rules. There are certain rules that we break but I hope we make it a habit to follow each rule whether it is easy or difficult nor if there is a penalty or not. How good would our world be if people will follow the rules and the law right? I know that it will be possible especially if there will still be people who would do the right thing.

P.S. lead image is the block letters from our Skrib Age (or Word Factory or Boggle) board game that we have.