“There are rules and you gotta have rules….”
– Mateo de Colón
This is a quote by me which is actually a misquote of Kevin Bacon from the movie Sleepers; “You gotta have rules and you gotta have discipline.”
Over 15 years ago I misquoted this line during a warm spring night in Toledo, Spain when the calimocho had been running a little too freely for the past couple of hours. Well, it stuck and has been an inside joke between a friend and I for these past 15 years.
I believe it stuck because we are both are intelligent enough to look upon many of the rules in our society as simply unnecessary. Many rules were put in place for no other reason than a desire to want to create rules!
Furthermore, if one says the word “rule” over and over it becomes a funny sounding word, that even though we’ve heard it with frequency throughout our entire lives never recognized how silly it sounds! Not only that, but it is a difficult word that requires acrobatics of the tongue to say correctly. Saying it in plural form requires us to shape our mouths three entirely different ways.
To begin with the “ru” sound we pucker our lips, lift our tongue and out comes a noise such as an ape would say.
Then for the “le” we must quickly shift bringing the tongue down and close the mouth bringing the lips into a smile.
Finally for the “s” we end pull our tongue back, clench our teeth and blow air through the small space between our upper and lower teeth which produces a hissing sound like that of a snake.
In regards to the function and purpose of rules, perhaps this word is what gives our entire society structure! Would society even be possible without rules? NO! There would then be anarchy and it would be impossible to live together cohesively since it is quite apparent from the news that we are still animals. Rules are the glue that holds society together.
I propose that we build a monument and place it in the most revered spot of our society. Historically monuments in places like these usually were of God, or the Emperor, King, etc. But when we boil it all down aren’t these all just givers of RULES? Rules are the force behind the man and even the divine, that which is true power in and of itself!
Let us build a monument and to give it even more authority and a demand for reverence we should put it in Latin. The common man always bows to things written or said in Latin after all.
REGULIS!
