Anarchy rules

A civilized society has to have rules.
Rules trickle down the ladder of life and shape our lives into interesting polygons and dodecahedrons.

From the national to the local level, from your parish to your street, rules are everywhere.
Some rules are written in law and come from previous generations. What did they know about 2009? Other rules come from people who supposedly know what's best for us. These people are society's expert parents. They have nothing to do except make rules.

Other rules are unwritten but are just as potent. These are social rules, rules of behaviour, which dictate your personal success. Nowadays, some of these rules are also written down, in self-help books that have a stigma of shame – they break the first rule of unwritten rules.
A workplace requires professional rules. You do what your boss says. Playing by these rules can surround you with money.
Family and friends require social rules. You enjoy shopping and drinking. Playing by these rules can surround you with mates.
Sharing a house requires house rules. You do the washing up when it's your turn. Playing by these rules can surround you with love.

Most of us just go along with rules for an easy life. We don't think about them or question them.
If we do think about it, there are some rules we all agree on. Other rules don't affect us so we're not bothered about them. Other people are so strongly affected by specific rules that they are moved to violently protest against them.

Then there are those grey rules that we pretend to agree with but break every day. Illegal downloads. Speed limits. Queues. Stealing stationery from work.
These rules give the illusion of order, while anarchy rages.
The anarchy is that everyone follows their own rules, when forced to think about them.
Each of us decide in a fraction of a second whether to follow some rules and not others.

So why not break the rules occasionally? Test your own rules and other people's and find out which rules you really want to sign up to.
Or try following some rules you've never bothered with for a change and find out how it feels.
To me, it's when rules become normal that people get boring.