That's Dirty

Just how much do we expect to be able get away with? I have been forced to ask myself this question whilst riding the train.

A conversation was overheard on the train that went a little like this:

Lady 1 - "My friend has a son who is on his P-Plates. He was pulled over by a cop for speeding, but the cop booked him for speeding, having the wrong colour P-Plates on and for not carrying his licence. He got done $200 for each infraction, for a total of $800. And to make it worse, he was only going half a kilometre down the road to get something for his Mum, who was sick."

Lady 2 - "$800. That's dirty."

Lady 1 - "I know. He wasn't even speeding that much."

There are two things that I took out of this conversation, and I hope that they are not a general indication of the views of the wider community.

First, both of these two women thought that the cop went too far in fining this kid for not adhering to specific road rules and conditions of driving for P-Plate drivers.

Second, both of these ladies excused the breaking of a law because the kid didn't "speed that much."

Both arguments are, in my humble opinion, ridiculous.

First, the cop was just doing his job. It is his job to pull over speeding drivers and then nab them for everything he can. How would one of these women felt if a cop pulled over a driver whose car was clearly defective, but let the guy go. Then the guy in the defective car kills one of the women's relatives in a car accident? What would the women say about the cop then? The cop is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Second, the P-Plater broke the law. If the sign says 60, then you are only allowed to go 60. Now, we have all sped at some point, I am sure. And for those of us who have been caught, hopefully our reaction has been, "Fair enough, I was going faster than I should."

My question for these two women would be, 'When does speeding a bit become speeding too much?' Their argument was that this P-Plater was only speeding a bit, or not too much. Again, what would have happened if one of their loved ones was killed or injured by someone who was not speeding too much, or who was just running an errand for their sick mother? Would they still be so quick to forgive the indiscretion?

All of this causes me to ask, How much should we be able to get away with? How much can we break the laws of the land without going too far? Is it acceptable to speed just a bit? Is it acceptable to physically abuse your spouse/partner just a bit? Is it acceptable to kill just a couple of people? Is it acceptable to  steal just a bit? If not, why not? Do we tolerate the breaking of some laws, but not others? Should we tolerate the breaking of some laws, but not others? If so, which ones and who says which ones?

Pearl Jam sing a song called 'Alive'. It comes to mind within this train of thought. Some of their lyrics are as follows:

"You're still alive, she said. Oh, and do I deserve to be? Is that the question? And if so, who answers?"

For my two cents worth, I do not believe that we can have it both ways. Either the cops have to uphold the laws, even when it is unpopular, or they just let everything go. Either we all have accept the laws that are handed down, or we just ignore them. Whichever we pick, there will be things we don't like. But it comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.

It proves, in my mind, that we can't have our cake and eat it. Especially not on the train, because there are signs that clearly state eating is prohibited in carriages!