[ SHOWGSD-L ] following the rules - long!
- From: "David Fritsche" <d_fritsche@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:28:19 -0700 (PDT)
> I believe in good rules, rules that are written so that they can be > >
> followed to the letter rather than only to "the spirit".
I was reading along saying "Amen" to this article until I hit this phrase...
Red flag!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are as many ways of looking at the law as there are people ? or
attorneys! <G>
I have a personal perspective that is somewhat different than we have
heard thus far, so I thought I would share it ?
* So I can be in trouble again!
* So I can get picked on
* So everyone can confirm their suspicions that I am really nuts.
Law/rules are a developed phenomena born out of human experience. We do
not live because of law, we lived before it, but because of human
differences and the injury we faced from some other persons warped
perspective of reality, we decided, somewhere in ancient history, that we
needed protection. Those agreements are our rules and laws. They reflect a
need for them and a purpose for their existence. That is the ?spirit?
behind the law.
Every law needs that purpose and spirit to guide it to its desired
application. It is possible to have the letter of the law used to abuse
people or to focus on things that are not an issue or a problem.
Let me illustrate?.
We have a stop sign down the road from our house at the highway. If you
stop there and look both ways you will see nothing from the north. There
is a rise in the road that obscures oncoming traffic from the north at the
stop sign. However, if you look at the highway to the north about 300
yards or more up the street as you approach you can see if there are cars
coming and if there is an opening in the flow of traffic.
So, everyone in the valley tends to look before they get there and then
roll through the stop sign to get onto the highway?. Yes, even the local
cops do it, because they understand the situation. The sign is there
presumably to regulate the flow of traffic, but the engineering of the
highway is such that what it is trying to do, it does not do at all. It is
unsafe to stop and wait. The spirit of the law and the letter of the law
can sometimes be separate and counter purpose.
For some 25 years I taught at all of the local Police Academies and one of
my topics was this very one. I would ask the recruits, If there is a stop
sign in a rural area and, as we know from studies of this subject, 80% of
the people do not come to an absolute total dead stop, and we can set
there and write tickets all day long, are we doing our job. Interestingly,
a majority of the recruits will answer ?YES.? I continue? Now understand
that, the sign is there to regulate the flow of traffic and keep the
people safe, and there has not been an accident, let alone an injury at
that intersection for over 10 years ? are you still doing your job?
At this point, several will still argue that they are. So, the plot
thickens?. Let us also acknowledge that there are other problems in the
community that people are concerned about. There are an increasing amount
of burglaries, car thefts and juvenile gang activities ? are you still
doing your job? The recruit that still answers yes, draws my attention,
for he is the officious person who is drawn more to power than he is to
the task of serving the needs of the community within the purpose and
spirit of the law. He will be trouble.
Law is a parameter to our lives. It defines a purpose and is focused at an
objective. It can be misused, misapplied and misunderstood. Law is not
life! It is the protective measures we use to context our lives so we are
free to enjoy life without threat.
The by-laws of the GSDCA are not a dog show, they are not the people we
love to be with, they are not the times of joy I share with my dog ? they
are the rules we erect to define the parameters to how we choose to do it.
They are a necessary fence around us ? they are not the territory inside
the fence.
Should they therefore be ignored? Not at all. But neither should they be
used to pursue power, position or advantage. They must be understood in
light of the spirit and purpose for which they came into existence.
And they do not cover everything. They may well need revision from time to
time, but God help us if we do, at some time in the future have enough law
to cover every conceivable situation. That can become intolerable at some
point.
This could become a 1,000 page thesis, but enough. We need law, but it
must have purpose and be administered within the spirit of its intent.
Without those component parts, law become a task master that reduces life
to mere wrote.
Now, on to revisiting our own by-laws and making changes that reflect our
needs and purpose??.
Dave
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