Be free, not compliant.

Posted on June 26, 2015 by KG

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
Because compliance with rules and laws is no indicator of superior morality. It’s as often a sign of cowardice and apathy.

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7 Responses to Be free, not compliant.

  1. Wombat says:
    June 26, 2015 at 12:29

    I’ve been in that argument before.

    “I can’t do that”, says whoever.

    “No”, says I, you can but you wont. Take some responsibility.”

    It rarely goes down well. http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

    • KG says:
      June 26, 2015 at 13:39

      When my wife and I were travelling constantly, I lost track of the number of people who said “I’d love to be as free as you”.
      The retort was always: “you could be – you simply won’t pay the price”.
      That rarely went down well either.

  2. Darin says:
    June 26, 2015 at 14:18

    “Why did you do that?” -“Because nobody said I couldn’t”http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_good.gif

    My favorite Heinlein quote-

    A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, cone a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

  3. KG says:
    June 26, 2015 at 14:55

    “You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.”

    “There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.”

    “A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”

    “Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.”

    “Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”

  4. Darin says:
    June 26, 2015 at 15:38

    “Life is hard,better wear a helmet”-Unknown

  5. KG says:
    June 27, 2015 at 08:50

    Martin Luther King, Jr.’s comment in his letter from Birmingham Jail:
    “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”