Everyday Canvas

Rules and Human Nature

Prompt: In his book The Club Dumas, Arturo Perez-Réverte says, “Even if there is foul play, without the rule there is no game.”
What does this quote mean, and how does its meaning reflect in your life?

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The Club Dumas is about the antique-book dealing with all its shadiness and the rules of that shadiness as adhered to or stepped away from by the dealers. Come to think of it, even the organized crime has its rules. Without rules, no one would be successful, even though human nature is adept at adapting any rule to its advantage.

Every society, even a not very pleasant one, needs rules that may be enforced according to who breaks them or if the rule-breaker changes the rules somewhat. Still society needs rules, even if there is often a motivation to break rules for power exertion or financial gains. In addition, some rules are on the books, while others are just understood by a group or a society.

The thing is, be it in life or in a game, no one cheats 100 %. Some cheat in disguise, others openly, and not all cheaters are given the heaviest punishments. Although we all think rules should be obeyed, when someone--who is on the side that we are partial to--breaks a rule, we are usually more forgiving, whether we are aware of this or not. This is only human nature.

Then, sometimes we cheat a bit to survive and make new rules to our advantage. The best cheaters are the ones who silence those who notice that the game is changing. I tend to think all new-rule-makers are cheaters. They are the cheaters of the original rules.

Think of any online site. Don’t they keep changing their rules to adapt to societal or technical needs? Still, this is a smaller scale. Think of the marriage vows or religions in general. Think of their rules. Don’t they change with the times? We’ve come a long way since the inquisitions, I dare think.

From my life, I’ll give an insignificant example. Did you know during the 1950s and early 60s, women were not allowed in fancy restaurants in Manhattan if they wore slacks? Later in the decade, women in trousers were only tolerated. As for me, I was always in skirts and dresses even while attending school. But possibly since the 1980s or so, I have been walking around mostly in slacks and shorts. I think my great-grandmother must be turning in her grave.