“It’s not against the law,” he crowed
\n“So I’ve got every right!”
\nThe stalking and intrusion
\nalmost pushed his prey to fight.<\/p>\n
“It’s not against the law,” said he
\nto justify his deed.
\n“It’s how I make a living, and
\nwell, I’ve got mouths to feed.”<\/p>\n
“It’s not against the law”
\nwas the sole reason that he gave.
\nBut laws are made by men,
\nthe same who shackle and enslave.<\/p>\n
It’s not against the law. Agreed.
\nOf that there’s no denial.
\nBut rights and words of law my friend
\nare not what’s now on trial.<\/p>\n
Without a moral compass
\nto divine your right from wrong.
\nThe death of common decency
\nwon’t be too far along.<\/p>\n
It’s not against the law I rail
\nbut lack of soul within.
\nFor how long can we wait on men
\n’til empathy sets in?<\/p>\n
There’s a video on YouTube of photographers who were stalking Ben Affleck as the actor was taking his children (ages 2 and 6) for a day out. Ben confronts one of the paparazzi and asks him to back off to allow him to enjoy his family day. I felt it was a sad commentary on society that the rationale the photographer felt most justified in giving to the actor\u2014that he felt excused his behavior\u2014was “Hey, it’s not against the law.”<\/p>\n
Wow! If I’d been there, I would have asked the photographer: Yes, but what about the effect your behavior has on others? Can you empathize with how your behavior makes them feel? What of the cumulative effect actions like yours will have on the community and its quality of life if everyone dispenses with common decency in favor of simply what’s legally permissible? Is this how you would wish to be treated?<\/p>\n
Furthermore, are you compromising your own ethics just for a paycheck? Is this the only way you can make a living\u2014by preying upon and stalking others? What of the negative points on the universal karmic ledger you are racking up with your actions? You may not believe in karmic justice, but many traditions and belief systems will tell you “what goes around comes around.”<\/p>\n
There’s so much more to assessing whether a person is justified in his\/her behavior than merely whether the laws are on that person’s side. These are the same laws written and enforced historically (here in the U.S.) by men who killed indigenous populations, owned slaves, subjugated women, imprisoned others who didn’t look like them, and terrorized anyone of “alternative” orientation.<\/p>\n
You can’t hide behind mere “legality” in deciding whether something should be acceptable to you or the society. Hopefully, people will realize that laws are not the arbiters of personal ethics and (in many cases) not even reflective of societal morality. Laws are written by people with their own flaws, biases, prejudices and all sorts of “isms” that affect their viewpoints. You have the ability and authority\u2014and perhaps the moral obligation\u2014to come to a conclusion about what is “right” or “wrong” for you and the society despite what “the law” says about it. The willingness and courage to do just that is precisely how society evolves.<\/p>\n
Walt Goodridge is a Saipan resident and author of over two dozen books, including In Search of a Better Belief System and Turn Your Passion Into Profit. www.liferhymes.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “It’s not against the law,” he crowed “So I’ve got every right!” The stalking and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3712],"class_list":["post-299663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-walt-goodridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}