Gotham Thoughts

Tonight I sat down to watch “Gotham,” a show about a lone cop trying to fight the corruption that plagues his city, including his own police department. The show has some depth, and it has me thinking about a few things. The biggest question I keep asking myself is how far should we go to follow the letter of the law? I mean, even Jesus came to remind people to follow the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law, right? At what point do the ends stop justifying the means? All these and more are questions I have asked myself time and time again. Quite frankly, I’m not sure where I stand on it all. 

On the one hand, law is the best way to keep order and safety in our everyday lives. I don’t believe that people, as a whole, would do what’s right if they knew they weren’t going to be punished for it. I mean, we could even use people now as an example. We have cops in place, but if we don’t see them out on the road, it’s guaranteed that people will start speeding. Sure, one or two will have the decency to do the right thing, but they’re probably in the minority on this one. I’m not saying that all of us would go wild like The Purge might suggest, but I do believe that the world would fall into chaos if not for the law. 

However, on the other hand, is there a case to be made for laws being a bad thing? Here’s a clean-cut example: if someone is speeding, should a cop be allowed to also speed in order to be able to stop them? I don’t think anyone would disagree that this would be alright, but then we must ask: where do we draw the line? This may be an entire field of study, so we may not wind up coming to a good conclusion in just a few pages, but I’m going to take a swing at it.

Here’s another example I would like to use. My first job was in my college’s cafeteria. At the end of the night, any food that was left had to get dumped. I’m not talking about the leftovers and the scraps, either. Sometimes we had full, untouched trays of food that went straight into the trash. We weren’t allowed to let any of it leave the facility except in trash bags. Why? Because if someone misused the food and got sick off of it, the college could be held liable. In other words, if I took home a slice of pizza, left it out until it got moldy, then ate it and got sick, I could sue the school. All that food, gone to waste over some legal shenanigans. 

So, if I came across a homeless man before work and smuggled some food out so he could eat, would it be wrong? On the one hand, sure! I broke the rules. On the other hand, the rules are dumb and it was for a good reason. Let’s suppose I knew about all the legal trouble this could cause, and insisted that my friend eat this food in front of me. Further, let’s suppose I made him pinky-promise not to sue the school, would it still be ok then? What if my friend joined in? What if we decided we could really make a difference and turned this whole thing into an organized food-smuggling network to help the homeless? We could make a huge difference, right?

I’ll be honest: I’m a pretty “by-the-books” type of guy. I would lean towards saying we shouldn’t bend the rules, and here’s why: I believe it’s a slippery slope. I believe every time you bend the law, it gets a little easier to do. One minute, you’re smuggling food out of the cafeteria to feed a homeless man, the next day you think it’s fine to keep a little for yourself. I know it’s no big deal in this scenario, but imagine if this were money. Once you start seeing your own excuses as valid, there is no end to how far things will go. 

But that doesn’t mean that following the rules perfectly is always going to produce good fruit, either. I have had plenty of times when I have used corporate policies, rules and contracts to justify being unhelpful to others just because I wasn’t feeling particularly helpful that day. In the case of my cafeteria job, I followed orders and tossed out tray after tray of perfectly good food. I guess this is a case that truly is quite gray. If you’re responsible about how you do things, I’m not so sure there’s a clear-cut answer. Both have their pros and their cons, and although I have my stance, I’m not so firm on rules that I believe they’re the only way. I just think we shouldn’t take bending them lightly. 

That’s what it all boils down to: the why. Are we doing things for a good reason? Are we bending the rules responsibly? Are we going to hold ourselves accountable so we don’t start a downward spiral? These are good questions to ask ourselves as we make decisions in life. Like I said before, the biggest concern is making bad decisions become easier and easier, to the point where we do wrong without even thinking about it. It’s an easy path to go down. I remember I made it all the way to college before I started swearing. All it took was one day where I knew I could get away with it, one slip of the tongue and it sent me on a downward spiral in the fast lane. 

I know swearing can sound like a petty example, but I believe it works for most other things. Look at what happened with David and bathsheba. Laziness turned into lust, which turned into adultery, which turned into deception, and ultimately: murder. Things can get out of hand fast when we act like there won’t be consequences. That’s why I believe we should hold ourselves to the rules, and try to set them up well so they keep us from doing bad things. At the same time, we should examine our hearts so that we want to do the right thing as well. Law can’t start the righteous, but it can choke the wicked. Maybe it’s a bit idealistic, but I think it’s our best bet for the human race as a whole. 

But I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on this. It seems like there’s a discussion to be had. There are probably perspectives on this that I hadn’t thought about. Let me know either in the comments, through facebook, or wherever you’d feel comfortable getting ahold of me. I pray this brings about fruitful discussion that changes both of us for the better.

Until next time

May Peace be your guide.