My Understanding of Rules and Freedom

As human beings, we all have our human rights in the modern world. We need human rights to attain freedom and equality. However, the world is never absolutely free and equal. Sometimes we may find we are not as free as we can imagine. For example, we are not allowed to drink and eat in the classroom, and we are not allowed to chat or sleep during a lecture. When I asked the reason for restricting my freedom since I were young, the answer was always the rules. On the one hand, it seems that the rule is a barrier that prevents us from being totally free. But on the other hand, the rule is also a barrier that prevents our human rights from being violated. In other words, freedom needs a boundary, in order to keep everyone equal, and it is the rule that defines the boundary. To understand the importance of the rules, I have two points of views.

My first view is that we need rules to keep a balance between freedom and equality. Rules are necessary to keep a group (e.g. a class, a company or a country) working normally and effectively. If we don’t have rules, there will be more conflicts, quarrels and even battles in the world than now. For example, if we don’t have rules in class, everyone can chat or sleep as he or she wants, then the teachers will be in fury, the atmosphere of the classroom will consist of jokes, arguments and words uttered in one’s sleep. Without rules, the group in the classroom will be a mess.

My second view is that we have to obey the rules because we chose to obey them. For instance, we chose to apply for a university before we enter it. When we made our choice, we already know that there would be rules in the campus. Once we have made our choice and got into the university, a relation between school and students are established, which means we have to give up some so-called “freedom” in exchange for the educational resources. To that extent, rules work like a promise that we made when we chose to do so.

Though we should keep on pursuing freedom, we should have a proper understanding of the importance of rules, and make efforts to keep the balance between the two.