It seems all the rage now to break rules.
Mock speed limits.
Tread on property not your own.
Walk dogs where prohibited.
Modeled by legislators who trespass yet more.
Flout election laws.
Defy official subpoenas.
Take bribes.
Making light of prohibitions, regulations.
Often sliding by without consequences.
Have you ever been tempted to disregard a sign?
For convenience?
Momentary ease?
Out of frustration?
Pulling into a parking space to go shopping?
One, designated for a tenant in an adjacent building?
Like Bob did the other day.
Because the lot looked full.
Telling me he’d park for just a moment.
In the spot marked for apartment 202.
He’d put on his blinkers.
Run in, then run out.
I glared at him.
Superego screaming, no.
Challenged him: What if #202 returns home?
Needs to park, race inside?
What if it were your space?
It only took a moment.
For my scruples to rouse his.
He got back into the car, moved it.
I was glad my restless conscience
could deter his moral lapse.
For obeying signage on the streets,
keeps society from collapse.
Lynn Benjamin
June 8, 2024