Episode 95: Jaywalking and Societal Decay

What in life deserves our time and attention and what things don't. I hope that as we consider that question along with other topics on this show, that we can all learn to live our lives just a little more intentionally. This is Seth Roberts. Thanks for joining me on Skipping Stones - “Jaywalking and Societal Decay.”

I heard once that in Japan, people will not cross the street without a green light, even if there's no cars around. Now that seems pretty nonsensical, and maybe it is, but I think there might be a value to placing societal harmony as a high priority in our lives. There are a lot of rules in an orderly society that benefit the whole, but not the individual.

Not crossing the road until the crossing light says go. Doesn't always benefit the individual, but it does make for a more predictable world that everyone else can rely on. I've had enough close calls with Jay Walkers that I think there may actually be some benefit to that one. Now in the United States and more broadly throughout Western civilization, we value independence above most things, and it seems to work well enough, but the concept that one should strive towards making things better for the strangers around you is powerful.

In no way do I wanna argue that Asian societies are better than Western ones. I mean, many of those countries are deeply corrupt in spite of their emphasis on harmony. But I think the idea that harmony is worth pursuing is a good one. The idea that you could depend on people to behave in accordance with some kind of considerate standard is what allowed for some places in the world to be safe enough to allow people to leave their doors unlocked when they went out.

I'm not sure if I know of any place like that anymore.  Maybe you can get away with it in a community that's fenced off from the rest of the world, but certainly not in a normal neighborhood. I think the real plague that destroys the trust in any society is just a few corrupt ways of thinking. One that says people deserve to be punished for being too trusting.

And the other that says, we are destined to be good or bad based on our past or present circumstances. If you can murder a person and later argue that it couldn't be helped because your passionate behavior is a result of your troubled upbringing, then why would you ever change if bad behavior is not wrong?

Because of your troubled past or your neighbor's foolishness, then there is truly nothing for you to change, and you might as well continue in your selfish ways. Avoiding accountability is a tale as old as time. Even when the Bible recounts the story of the origin of humanity, it tells us that when Adam was confronted by God for eating the forbidden fruit, he points at Eve and says, she gave it to me.

Obviously, God didn't buy into that excuse, and Adam and Eve paid the consequence by getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden. There are people that will rob a home and blame the homeowner for not locking the door or leaving something valuable, visible through the window. I have friends that have taken advantage of no questions asked, return policies to exchange items they bought from a thrift store.

I know people that take advantage of their workplace to replenish their own office supplies at home. If you can make an argument that there is nothing wrong with taking something or doing something so long as you don't get caught, then I suppose you belong in a society where everyone else feels the same.

On the other hand, I think the closest thing to Paradise might be to live in a place where people do hold themselves accountable to doing the right thing, regardless of whether or not someone else or some company was foolish enough to be taken advantage of. When societies are considerate and trusting.

They are easily taken advantage of by bad people. But on the other hand, society benefits at large. The less trust in a society results in people putting bars on their windows. It means a store can't have its inventory sitting out on shelves without the customers being followed around the store.  It means you need to hire a guy with a machine gun to stand outside the shop.

It also means you have to worry about that same guy being bribed. It means you can't expect people to reliably deliver money to where it needs to go. At its extreme, no trust in society creates an environment where the threat of violence and the use of force is the only thing keeping any kind of social order.

I just don't wanna live in that. I hope the day comes that  the most exciting thing in my day-to-day life is whether or not my neighbor mows their lawn instead of worrying about whether or not my neighbor is going to break in while I'm out. It probably feels good for some of you to put on a rebel identity and live life with this devil may care attitude.

But if that's the world you wanna live in, then maybe it's only fair that you live in the kinds of places where you need to put bars in your windows and where people are expected to break the rules. This way, at least the rest of us can more easily find a place to live where we can reasonably expect people to abide by a set of rules that benefits the rest of us.

Order feels boring to people that are addicted to stimulation and chaos feels exciting until they have to live in it. So I think it's worth making an effort to abide by rules, especially if those rules benefit the whole, even if it is an inconvenience to us individually. Also, maybe we should stop accepting people's excuses for breaking the rules so easily.

Regardless of a person's terrible life experiences, one of the greatest gifts that can be given to them is to be held up to high expectations. I would also think that if you're going to insist on bucking society's rules, it's only fair that you give up on justifying your actions with some kind of sob story and acknowledge that the rest of us have a right to think poorly of you.

There will always be bad people in the world, but a lot less bad happens in the world when we stop telling criminals and nuisances that they have no control over how they behave because of their past or because of the cards society has dealt them. So is jaywalking a sign of societal decay? I don't know, but I do know that when we stop caring about the small rules, the world gets a little less predictable for everyone else around us.

In a perfect world, I think life should be boring most of the time because the trains arrive on time. The people show up when they say they're going to, and locking your doors is optional. Life throws enough adventure at us already in one place. I hope we don't have to experience it in our own neighborhoods.

This is Skipping Stones - “Jaywalking and Societal Decay.” You can find this podcast anywhere you choose to listen to podcasts. For more information about me, feel free to visit skippingstonessr.com. And if you enjoyed the show, please like or subscribe. If there is a topic you would like me to speak on, please feel free to email me at info@skippingstonessr.com. New episodes will be released weekly every Monday.