My Mama always said...

Did you always do what your mother told you to do? I mean as a kid. When my father told me not to pick my bowl up to my face to drink the rest of the cereal and milk, I waited till he left the room and did it anyway. Even as adults we hear our parents voices echoing in our heads. Don't touch that before you wash your hands. Its rude to point. Say excuse me. Hopefully we have come to internalize these messages.

Did your mother ever tell you not to cross the street by yourself? When I was a kid I was told I could cross by myself but only at the corner. This was very frustrating as we lived smack in middle of a long block and each corner was equally far away.

Did you always listen?

I saw a frum kid standing by the corner by himself. I ws thinking to ask him if he needed help. But he stopped a frum guy and asked him in yiddish to help him cross the street.

I thought this was cute. I guess some kids really do listen.

But what compels us to listen and obey the rules set forth for us? Because we understand them? A kid doesnt understand what danger is but he responds to the sound of his parents voice when he runs into the street. We hope that they have our best interest at heart and know what they are doing otherwise why are we following such stringent laws?

At what point do we stop taking it on good authority and decide for ourselves the rules?

There are always rules in life. Some we choose to follow, and some we disobey. If we disregard a red light, we will get a traffic ticket. Therefore most drivers will not run a red light. They can immediately see the repercussions of their actions.

But what about situations in which we can tell ourselves, it won't really affect us? Or further, it will only affect US so why would anyone else care?

That is in essence what we say every time we cross in middle of traffic, or don't pay taxes, or go to work late.

It is all about taking responsibility for your actions and realizing that there are rules for a reason.

That little boy was told to ask a grown up to help him cross the street. So he did. I wonder how long he would have waited for someone to come until he gave up and crossed by himself.

We were brought up with rules. But there comes a point in time when no one is watching you anymore, no one is telling you what is right and what is wrong. And at that point you must make your own rules, your own decisions regarding set rules.

And hopefully, by the time we get to that point, we will have been prepared enough to make the right decision.