Anupam- The Dreamer

When you are riding on a road, and you see a traffic signal showing green right in front of you, your heart races to cross the signal within the nick of the time. But, as soon as you are about to reach the signal, it turns red! And how does that feel at that point of time? Irritating, annoying and brazenly unlucky! Right? At that very moment, you hate the traffic rules! But, if you are a good citizen, then you will press the brakes hard and bring your car/bike to a screeching halt. If you don’t do this on encountering a red signal, please stop reading this article right now, it’s not for you!

Rules and laws sometimes are difficult to follow. Sometimes, it feels like they are constraining us. It feels that they are restricting our freedom to do things and make choices. It feels like they should be removed for the better. But, wait. Hamburabi’s 3700 year old code, Ashoka’s 2200 year old edicts, Magna Carta of 1215 AD, the vast literature about societal laws, culminating into democratic Constitutions of the modern era alongwith United Nations Charter adopted in 1945, all are nothing but a set of rules and laws which guide the conduct of humans in their society. And there is a reason why these laws came into existence. To understand this, we need to go a bit deeper. Ready??? Let’s begin.

When the humans were living like nomads, there was low interaction between them, so no written rules were required to regulate their behaviour. But, as civilization became more complex, the human interactions increased to a huge extent and the interests of the people started to clash at times. So, in order to regulate the behaviour of humans in a society (which can be very erratic, confusing and irrational also) and to ensure some orderliness in the society, the rules and laws had to be put into place. Earlier, the religious texts and the rulers enforced law and order, through either written laws or unwritten laws. The above examples I gave are of written laws. Laws and rules, when viewed from a parochial perspective, can be seen to limit individual’s rights and freedoms. For example, you are not allowed to break traffic signal. But, when viewed from a wider perspective, can be very empowering for individuals also. For example, because of traffic rules, the accidents are reduced to a large extent and the people can travel safely to places without risk to their lives. So, traffic rules are there for the common good of all and to save people’s lives, whether you like it or you hate it.

So, the rule of law, which came to be adopted by and large in all countries, underlines this basic utility of laws for the human lives. It restricts tyranny of powerful individuals over the weak, it protects people’s rights, it brings peace and order to the society and it protects individuals from whims and fancies of a crooked person/ruler. Imagine a society, where there are no rules and laws for even a single day. Most of the humans will become animals, mighty will rule over the weak, there will be “Matsyanyaya” where only might will be right, there will be violence and bloodshed all around. Therefore, to avoid all this violence and instability, laws were put into place and organizations were created to enforce these. The organizations outlast a mortal human being, therefore they serve great utility. An organization serves as a carrier of human values through generations. Even when we will not be around, they will continue to guide us for a better future for all humans.

But, off late, there have been some actions at global scale which threaten this rules-based order. First, is imposition of tariffs by the US administration on other countries. Their own apex court has said that these were against the laws and without approval of the US Congress. Impulsive decisions about trade tariffs and retaliation by the affected nations can upend the global trade order, which took decades to build. The, unilateral withdrawal from the global treaties is also a sign of danger for the world like Paris Climate Agreement. Maybe in the opinion of some nations, that Agreement was in itself not sufficient to curb global warming, but atleast there was some understanding between all the nations. Now, without that Agreement, what do we have? A big andaa i.e. zero!

Then, there is a UN Charter which all countries of the world more or less agree to. It has laid down basic rules of conduct between the nations at global stage, for promotion of global peace, human rights, educational and cultural rights, elimination of poverty etc. It lays down great importance to sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nation states. There is a set protocol, to obtain the approval of the member states before using any means of force to protect larger global interests. But, when this Charter is not followed or violated by some member states, for their own interests, then it is the global interest that takes a backseat.

Individually, violence and fighting with each other can benefit a few nations for a short-term, but in the long-term it harms all the nations. Use of military force by one nation over other, outside of the international law, is a lose-lose for everyone. Sometimes, it can be justified in the larger interest if there is actually one, like to eliminate terrorists after obtaining proper sanction of the UN or the domestic laws. But, more often than not, use of force rather than dialogue and diplomacy, causes more harm than good.

So, laws and rules are there for a reason, a reason which is much bigger than the individual persons and the individual nations. Better, we start appreciating them, keep improving and amending them with the requirements of the time, and enforce them for better future of us all. Humans can be greedy, selfish, idiotic, violent, irrational, cruel at times, but laws are not! Laws framed through human reason, logic, good intent, knowledge and consensus constrain our negative behaviour and promote positive behaviour, in general. So, the next time, you encounter a red light, are you going to stop or jump?