Comments on: To Obey or Not to Obey http://www.warrenhenke.com/blogs/musings/to-obey-or-not-to-obey my writing and photography Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:16:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Grandma Henke http://www.warrenhenke.com/blogs/musings/to-obey-or-not-to-obey/comment-page-1#comment-626 Grandma Henke Wed, 27 May 2009 21:55:10 +0000 http://www.warrenhenke.com/blogs/musings/to-obey-or-not-to-obey#comment-626 The old adage "Rules are made to be broken" or "Better to do it now and ask for forgiveness later" are two statements that quarrel with following rules or laws. I remember several times while working with the state agencies when the only way we could reach our goal with a client was to "bend" or even "ignore" the rule and play dumb. A few times I definitely broke the rules in order to bring some happiness to some of our clients ... like taking two tour buses of people to Disneyland with staff who volunteered their time. The rule is that staff can't volunteer to do what they are normally paid to do but there is no way we could have made the trip paying them all an hourly wage (plus overtime). They would still be taking care of the people in the same way as they normally would. It would have been costly had we been turned in but I weighed it all in my mind and chose to break that wage and hour law and pray we wouldn't be caught. (Now isn't that an oxymoron for you? Pray to not get caught breaking a rule.) If we'd been audited it could have been costly to our non profit agency ... and probably for me personally. I didn't feel guilty for it (probably because we were never caught) until I read your post and got to thinking about my personal ethics. I have always prided myself in being honest and law abiding ... but have I been? Other times I have bent the rules in fulfilling an assignment (even a church one)knowing I would be forgiven if the end result was good ... hoping that it would be good. For instance, shopping at a store that was more convenient because it had more of the merchandise I needed than that were on the approved list. It saved me hours of shopping time ... but technically I was breaking the rule and hoping I would still get reimbursed. I guess the risk I was taking there was that I wouldn't get reimbursed ... so it would be my personal loss. I think rules and laws are good. I would never advise anyone to break one ... but in retrospect I see that I have decided which ones I would ignore. I have always prided myself in being honest ... but if I omit telling something because the correct question wasn't asked am I technically lying? When children first learn to talk they blurt out the truth without thinking of consequences. Later they think of the consequences and learn to only answer the questions. I think the world is safer with laws and rules and I will try hard to obey then. I won't be driving more than 4 miles above the speed limit (uh oh there's one) or robbing a bank or even snagging a candy bar at the store ... but sometimes, I have to admit, people may still have to ask me the right question. I'll work on it. Your blog was well written and thought provoking. The old adage “Rules are made to be broken” or “Better to do it now and ask for forgiveness later” are two statements that quarrel with following rules or laws. I remember several times while working with the state agencies when the only way we could reach our goal with a client was to “bend” or even “ignore” the rule and play dumb. A few times I definitely broke the rules in order to bring some happiness to some of our clients … like taking two tour buses of people to Disneyland with staff who volunteered their time. The rule is that staff can’t volunteer to do what they are normally paid to do but there is no way we could have made the trip paying them all an hourly wage (plus overtime). They would still be taking care of the people in the same way as they normally would. It would have been costly had we been turned in but I weighed it all in my mind and chose to break that wage and hour law and pray we wouldn’t be caught. (Now isn’t that an oxymoron for you? Pray to not get caught breaking a rule.) If we’d been audited it could have been costly to our non profit agency … and probably for me personally. I didn’t feel guilty for it (probably because we were never caught) until I read your post and got to thinking about my personal ethics. I have always prided myself in being honest and law abiding … but have I been? Other times I have bent the rules in fulfilling an assignment (even a church one)knowing I would be forgiven if the end result was good … hoping that it would be good. For instance, shopping at a store that was more convenient because it had more of the merchandise I needed than that were on the approved list. It saved me hours of shopping time … but technically I was breaking the rule and hoping I would still get reimbursed. I guess the risk I was taking there was that I wouldn’t get reimbursed … so it would be my personal loss. I think rules and laws are good. I would never advise anyone to break one … but in retrospect I see that I have decided which ones I would ignore. I have always prided myself in being honest … but if I omit telling something because the correct question wasn’t asked am I technically lying? When children first learn to talk they blurt out the truth without thinking of consequences. Later they think of the consequences and learn to only answer the questions.

I think the world is safer with laws and rules and I will try hard to obey then. I won’t be driving more than 4 miles above the speed limit (uh oh there’s one) or robbing a bank or even snagging a candy bar at the store … but sometimes, I have to admit, people may still have to ask me the right question. I’ll work on it.

Your blog was well written and thought provoking.

]]>