hard to obey rules,
they mean something, I believe …
I thought you did, too
But the difference is, you see in this world you learn a set of rules, or you don’t learn them.
But assuming you learn them, you stick by them.
They may be no damn good, but you’re who you are and what you are because they’re your rules and you stick by them.
And of course when it’s easy to stick by them, that’s no test.
It’s when it’s hard to obey the rules, that’s when they mean something.
That’s what I believe, and I always thought you did too.
From A Rage to Live by John O’Hara,(New York : Random House, 1949).
This little passage by the great (just ask him) John O’Hara kinda more or less sums up my feelings on the current crisis in government we are all living with.
Back in the day when those founding fathers were founding this nation and writing out the rules, they KNEW they had a problem.
They designed a pretty good system where, for the most part, people had a voice in the affairs of the nation and it was all laid out in the rules.
Rules so basic, that the they needed little adjustment, some minor, some glaring, since they were written in to the Constitution and Bill of Rights back in 1787.
Still, when it was finished, signed and published, Dr. Benjamin Franklin issued his famous warning that the people now had, A republic, if you can keep it.
IF … you can keep it.
A warning to be sure but why?
Why?
Because it depended on the people playing by the rules.
Both sides.
Yes, yes, yes, there would be a lot of rule bending to be sure but for the most part the rules held.
Because both sides played by the rules.
And I guess here is where I am the most depressed.
Mr. O’Hara gives some leeway in his discourse on rules, saying … in this world you learn a set of rules, or you don’t learn them.
These folks, all of us, KNOW THE RULES.
Boy, Howdy but a great effort in schools was made to make sure we all knew the rules and how those rules made this country different and why there were important.
Now, those rules may be no damn good, but you’re who you are and what you are because they’re your rules and you stick by them.
And of course when it’s easy to stick by them, that’s no test.
It’s when it’s hard to obey the rules, that’s when they mean something.
That’s what I believe, and I always thought you did too.
That’s where I am with the rules set up by men but I can say the same thing about the rules set up by God.
The rule in the book of Matthew, Chapter 22, verse 39 that states: ‘Love your neighbor’.
More simply, a rule based on the word, love.
Maybe there are those who will say I am taking the rule ‘out of context.’
But I don’t think so.
If fact, I don’t know how you can take Love your neighbor OUT of context, it is that clear and that simple.
You might as well try to take a stop sign out of context.
As David French wrote in his opinion piece, Why MAGA Evangelicals Can Cheer Love and Hate at the Same Time (NYT, 9/24/2025)
If MAGA evangelicals cheer Trump’s hate, if they welcome it, if they adopt it and if they vote for it, then they are responsible for it. His malice becomes theirs.
Love.
Love your neighbor.
Now, this rule may be no damn good, but you’re who you are and what you are because they’re your rules and you stick by them.
And of course when it’s easy to stick by them, that’s no test.
It’s when it’s hard to obey the rules, that’s when they mean something.
That’s what I believe, and I always thought you did too.
No Haiku For You 