I will be the first to admit that I am a recovering “we must follow all the rules to a T” lady. Rules are meant to be followed, right? And so, for most of my life, that is what I have done. In school, in work, and in life, I have been that person.
That is, until I lost my dad and everything I thought about the world was challenged.
Now, I understand that rules do have a place and a purpose, but what about some of the rules that create detrimental inflexibility and rigidness? That is what concerns me today. It seems there are a lot of people who are so worried about “following the rules” that they are missing the bigger picture. What if the rules are outdated? What if there are other ways (that aren’t illegal or hurt someone) to do something that are still beneficial but technically “break” the established rules? What if the current rules keep us from helping more people or people who are different from us?
We need to challenge how we think about rules. We need to be more open-minded.
I also need to remind myself of this time and time again.
The world is not typically an all or nothing proposition – it is a continuum of varied experiences and insights, and we should all work towards making sure the “rules” to help others truly do so. My hope is that we all begin to question and challenge things that “must” be done in particular ways to help others, as we may be missing the opportunity to help many more people.