Fuck rules.

This post is odd. I REALLY want to write it, but something is holding me back. When we first got home from the roller skating rink (you can read the positive account of it at The 2 Girls Blog), I was all ready to go. I was angry and righteous and had several of my thoughts well-formed. I opened Blogger, and I stalled.
I started PMing people and chatting with Jupe through AIM. Then I got hungry.

And then whenever I thought about blogging this entry, my stomach would growl. It was truly odd, although slightly interesting, from a psychological standpoint.

I let Stephanie go online, and I ate. When I was done eating, I thought about blogging, and again, my stomach growled. I ate some more, and watched some tv with Saren. Once Stephanie was done, I decided to go on and give writing this entry another chance. I'm typing it now, and while my stomach is still grumbling a bit, I'm doing it. (Of course, I did sit here with a blank screen for at least ten or twenty minutes before hand)

My point in all of this pre-point ramble, is that obviously this issue is big with me, and I'm worried about getting it "just right". (Stupid school induced fear. Well, school and parenting.)

The bottom line of this post will be this sentence. "People matter more than rules."
I will ramble about this for god knows how long, and I'll raise several points about it, but in the end, that's all I'm going to be saying. If you want to stop reading the rest of the entry, you can. Because those five words are the key.

But they're not simple words. Or, apparently, they're not simple words when put in that order.

If you look at any organization (school, religion, politics, pretty much any corporation, governments, along with the way a good many people parent their children) you'll see that the action they convey is the opposite of the mantra I quoted above. These things care more about the rules than the people following them. And it's wrong.

We went roller skating today. It was, in many, many ways a bad experience. (Although Saren was able to overlook the badness, and just (for the most part) have a good time.)
The reason I say it was bad is because while we were skating, the employees who were skating along with us (teens, dressed in referee shirts) kept coming along to anyone who had paused momentarily and said, "You've got to keep skating. You can't stop along the wall!" (In fact, they were very rude about it.) The rules were more important than the people. Who gives a god damn fuck if I stop skating with my three year old daughter for a minute or two to make sure she's okay?

But that's the thing. The rules must be followed, even if the rules don't make sense. Or if a person's happiness be crushed beneath them.

Skating isn't meant to be fun, by god, it's got to be ordered. It's got to have structure. It's got to be disciplined. Everyone must follow the all important rules.
If you allow people to just stop skating, well, hell, you'll have anarchy in a matter of minutes!!

In a lot of ways, our night at the Roller Rink was a microcosm of school. It was supposed to be Family Skating Night from 7pm to 10pm. We started skating at 7. At around 8 or so, they had to "do the Hokey Pokey". (If you were just beginning to enjoy skating, too bad. It was time to do the Hokey Pokey. Dance, or get off the rink.) Once that was completed, it was open skating again.
Shortly after that, though, the announcer came on and forced everyone off the rink so that they could play limbo.
And open skating was interrupted again for races and "pushcart" racing. (Mmmm. Competition. Young kids have to be competitive. Young kids must race against each other for material prizes. Children can't just go to the fucking roller rink and have fun.)
Around 8:45, they instructed everyone to get off except for couples who had to hold hands. Saren and I stayed out there holding hands.
As we were skating, she asked me, "Why do we have to hold hands?" (she had been enjoying the independence of skating alone previously, and wanted to try it some more)
I told her that it was just one of their stupid rules, and we didn't have to. But I kept holding her hand. [/angry at my self]

At 9pm (yes, NINE, despite the fact that the sign said from 7-10), they kicked everyone off who had "rental skates". Grumbling, I returned my skates, and let Saren skate around the rink (alone) one last time. The only other person on the rink was an elderly black man. I wonder how the roller rink manages to stay in business. Of course, if it went out of business, after tonight, I don't think I'd shed any tears.

School, of course, has the same attitude when it comes to rules. The rules are what matter, not the people. The exact opposite of the way that it should be.
It's probably about this time that someone who is in favor of school would say, "But the rules are in place to protect the people."
And I think that that's crap.

The rules are in place to control people. And as long as people continue to value the rules more than each other, they'll continue to do so.

I'm losing my steam, and that's probably okay, because I'm sure most of the P@riots are either shaking their heads sadly, or rolling their eyes, or they've kinda just skimmed this entry anyway, because it's so long and ranty.

That's fine, because this mantra has become the new words I live by. People matter more than rules. It's why we unschool. It's why I dislike religion. It's what I despise about politics, and organizations. It's why I hate wage slavery. And in short, it really is the crux of what's wrong with our society. So I'm sure I'll blog about it again.

If you look around, you'll see it everywhere. (The opposite taking place. Where the rules have become more important than the people.) And once you see it, it should piss you off. And if it pisses off enough people, hopefully (hopefully!!) enough people will realize, "Hey! This is just ...bad." and then we'll stop.

I don't really have a way to wrap this up, so I won't. Instead, I'll simply say it again in hope that it will actually make an impact.

People matter more than rules.