Let’s face it.
All of us break the law. We can’t help it really. Most of us do it every day. If you own a dog, and don’t have a license for it… lawbreaker. Perhaps you have forgotten to check the underside rack of your grocery cart, and walked out with a sack of potatoes there. Lawbreaker.
Or you threw a gum wrapper toward a public trashcan, and it fell to the ground? Perhaps stepped on someone’s property without their consent? Walked on a Railroad Track? Again. Lawbreaker.

Insignificant little laws? Well, perhaps. But laws nonetheless. Imagine if we were caught on tape and fined each and every time we committed these offenses. Lawbreakers in the Poorhouse…. that’s what we’d be. And imagine the red tape of it all. The hubbub.

I say an emphatic and resounding “NO” to Big Brother watching. Who knows where the next cameras will be installed.  On our nature walks? In our homes? Well this much is for sure….. My bathroom is OUT…… Mr. 1984.

Why the schtick tonight about this? Well. I just saw red light cameras go up in a few intersections of this little town of ours. Oh sure. I know all the “benefits” of them. Blah, blah, blah… blah, blah.

But here is the deal. In the first 32 years of driving, I had never been issued a ticket. Ever. One warning. Never a ticket. Yet. In the past 2 years, I have had four speeding tickets. ALL… as a result of the Camera Cop. And technically, if you are traveling 26 mph in a 25 mile per hour zone…. LAWBREAKER.

Rhymes with Jawbreaker. And I’ll tell you this much….. just like a Jawbreaker…… it sucks.

But why do I take such offense to this?
While camera surveillance isn’t such a big deal right now, it has the potential of snowballing.

AND…. I think that if we follow every little letter… of every little law…. ONLY because we live in FEAR of those Watchers… those in Power …. then we might just lose that one very special thing about us.

Yes. That incredible part of the human potential. And that is…. The Choice.  Yes.  That decision….. when no one…. absolutely no one is watching, we make the decision to do the right thing…. simply because…. we know in out hearts.  It is the right thing to do.

“We need to have a purpose in this life. I’m pleading with you, I’m begging with you to do the right thing. And do it not for the sake of how it will impact your own lives, but only for the sake of doing the right thing.” – James McGreevey