Rules are made to be broken.
Or so I used to think until we got this topic and I had to really think about it.
The only thing that is keeping the world together is the rules that is guiding the inhabitants. Rules and laws have always existed, from time immemorial. As long as there was a group of people in a place, they would most likely have a leader. And the leader would get to decide what the rules are. And for those who break these rules, there will be punishment.
Through time, the basic idea has not changed but the number of the rules that exist has increased by thousands.
All over the world, there is a statistic that is consistent, fortunately. And that is the fact that the number of criminals in any given country is always a ridiculously small percentage of the total population. If there are only a hundred people in the world, the number of criminals would not be more than two. That is how small the populations of criminals are. Because any other way and there will be more prisons in the country than there are schools and private homes combined.
Rules are an integral part of who we are, they make up the backbone of society. Because they dictate just how people should interact with each other.
So, if it turned out that there were no rules for the next twenty-four hours of my life, what was the world going to be like?
When I contemplated this, two movies came to my mind.
The first one was The Purge. It is a Hollywood movie set in America, it’s the major storyline is that the American government set one day aside, that day any murder that is committed will not be punished. This means you can kill anyone at all, and you will go scot-free. This was in a bid to reduce the rising population. And people from all over the world came to take part in the purge. So, if rules are taken away, we would be living the scenes from the movie. And I can assure you that it would not be so entertaining.
The second movie it reminded me of was 2012, the apocalyptic movie about the end of the world. It predicted an apocalypse caused by a series of natural disasters that will level the earth and kill all life within it.
Are you seeing where I am going with this?
If the rules that govern the world are removed, we humans would by our own hands destroy it. Now that there are nukes and bombs that can level an entire country, there are bio-weapons that can be deployed, there are submarines that can be hiding for weeks under a country without them knowing. We would not need natural disasters to end the world.
But I am going too far, what about in the streets and among the normal people? Well, it would be chaos. Once there are no rules, nothing is stopping people from breaking into banks and carting away loads of money. But then, some people will become greedy and want to take all the money for themselves and try to kill others.
Hence the streets will be filled with violence.
That basic hunger of humans to want things they can’t have will take over and you will see how people will fight and struggle because they know that there will be no price to pay. Without any rule, people will die in their thousands, everyone that has been holding a grudge against his brother will kill him and that will be it. If you have other criminal intents, you can carry it out as long as it is within the time frame.
By the time the twenty-four hours are up, the world would have been turned inside out and it would be really difficult before it recovers.
Okay, so now, during all this madness and chaos what will I do? Well, first of all, I would not partake in the madness of breaking into banks.
Do not get me wrong, I am no hero. If I get such an opportunity I would most likely look out for myself and my family because that is surely what everyone else would be doing.
So, I would carry out my own money heist.
I would break into a police station and steal a gun or two. Then I would go to the airport and steal a private jet. Seeing as I can’t fly it, I would have to kidnap a pilot and put a gun to his head so he would fly me all the way to Abuja. Once there I would drive to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
It is my belief that by that time the security would have been dispersed because they are humans as well and would also want to be safe. So, the only people I would see in the bank are most likely looters and thieves.
I am not here to steal, though. Instead, I decide to print my own money. I would make it legit and untraceable. I would print as much as I can. Once I notice that the deadline is approaching, I will drive back with my loot to the airport.
The kidnapped pilot has no doubt escaped so I will have to kidnap another one who will fly me to Lagos. Then because I am feeling generous, I could give him one thousand naira for his service. I will drive the rest of my money home, with my feet down on the pedal and my stolen guns out the window. Ready to smash or shoot down anyone that tries to get in my way.
The loot I will cart away will run into millions, and I will keep it safe until the twenty-four hours eventually runs out. Then I will dump the guns and then when the banks open, I will go and save it all in my bank account.
They won’t ask me questions because when I got the money, there had been no rules. And that is how I will change the story of my family. All because of one day.
I know that the way I narrated everything, it seems too easy, but I can assure you it won’t be that easy. There will be enemies and obstacles. My journey would make for a really interesting action movie or thriller novel. And in the end, I will get the money.
And when the dust settles, as the world is trying to recover from one of the most brutal days ever, I will be a rich man. I will help those around me, both the sick and the hungry. But I will do that as a rich man. And that will be the only good thing for me about removing the rules for a day.
Thankfully, a day like that cannot come, so none of these will ever happen. And like the majority of the population, I would be a good citizen and obey the rules. Until one day… one very day… the rules would be taken down for a day.
Image by Lawless Capture
Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post.
This post is inspired by the second topic for the week, and that is No Rules. Feel free to try it out.
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