tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post7369005941534879905..comments2024-03-26T13:46:42.738-05:00Comments on 4 Quarters, 10 Dimes: A Pandemic Memorial DayDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03463621516644789183noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-42809769104376138292020-05-26T23:02:42.840-05:002020-05-26T23:02:42.840-05:00While I agree with your larger point - there are a...While I agree with your larger point - there are a lot of people out there who seem to regard their rights as absolute and the concerns of the larger society as mere contrivances, a position which the Founding Fathers would have regarded as twisted, and civilized societies crumble under such weight - I am hesitant to say whether this is a new idea or not. FFS there were **gunfights** in San Francisco during the Spanish Flu epidemic between the police and people who felt that wearing a mask was beneath them.<br /><br />I remain somewhat hopeful simply because the number of idiots is proportionately small, though this is tempered somewhat by the fact that the absolute number of idiots is fairly large and may well be enough to bring us all down. Time will tell.<br /><br />Good luck with your neighbor. He sounds like a charmer. When confronted with that kind of driving I am always reminded of the scene in a Robin Williams movie (World According to Garp?) where he is faced with a similar driver and corrects the situation by remodeling the car with a crowbar.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03463621516644789183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-88440392424375037562020-05-26T17:37:16.600-05:002020-05-26T17:37:16.600-05:00If I may, I’d like to take a moment and expand upo...If I may, I’d like to take a moment and expand upon Justice Harlan’s statement quoted above.<br /><br />I recently had a, uh, ‘lively’ discussion with a neighbor about speeding.<br /><br />His argument: Nothing wrong with it if you don’t get caught. No harm, no foul.<br /><br />My argument (very much abbreviated here): Recognizing that anarchy is not a very good plan, most civilized societies pass laws, regulations, and rules to restrain bad and undesirable behaviors. Your ‘right’ to behave in any way you desire ends at the moment your behavior infringes or endangers another member of the society. <br /><br />There is, insofar as the decision to break any law, regulation or rule, no difference between speeding, knocking over convience stores for a little spare cash, or murder - only differences in <i><b>degree</b></i> and <i><b>consequence</b></i>. The harm to society remains the same: every little bit hurts.<br /><br />I do not believe he understood the point I was trying to make. The very next morning he passed me doing more than 45 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All I can do is make an effort.<br /><br />I surmise that at some point in our not too distant history, we, as a society, made the unstated (unconscious?) decision to no longer teach this principle, nor enforce it to any degree; and because of that, we shall suffer the consequences until we make a conscious decision to rectify it.<br /><br />I was born into and raised in a different era where these things were taught as being important. Sadly, it is entirely possible that those days are lost forevermore. And yet I remain …<br /><br />Hopefull.<br /><br />Lucy<br />LucyInDisguisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08169432604954981941noreply@blogger.com