Ok it’s been a while since I’ve had a good rant so here it goes…

Since when did laws become the absolute moral standard? Ok equating laws against rape and murder with a basic moral stance against rape and murder is fine but it seems now that people are more and more often saying “It’s not illegal” as an explanation for being impolite and inconsiderate. (As in its not illegal to smoke outside therefore it’s ok that I dangle my cigarette over your baby carriage).

Yes, laws are in place to protect us but they must allow for some freedom in choice and actions which means that our actions on a daily basis should not be defined by laws alone. Laws set the absolute, basic, minimum moral standards; we each need to strive on our own to achieve more.

For example, the guy who backed out of the offer that we had accepted on our place in DC (causing us to lose probably $20,000 since we already rejected the other offers) was legally allowed to do so without giving us a reason, but it would have been very nice to know why he suddenly decided to screw us over. When I mentioned this, ‘its within his legal rights’ was the excuse that was given for his rudeness and suddenly I felt like I was accused of being the bad guy because I wanted him to waive his rights or something. No, I just want him to be polite, I just want a fax that says ‘sorry due to unforeseen circumstances’ or something not the fax he sent (I am withdrawing my offer, send my deposit to this address).

And our neighbors, well the law clearly states that no construction in residential areas can take place before 7am but that doesn’t mean that it’s polite of them to start working on the wall directly behind our bed at 7:01. There are plenty of other places that they could be working that wouldn’t wake us up, the wall behind our kitchen for example but this solution hasn’t seemed to cross their mind. Their reasoning is, “we’re legally allowed to start now so we have fulfilled all obligations to our neighbors.” You have fulfilled your obligations to the legal system of the city of Montreal; you are choosing to do no more for your neighbors!

Anyway perhaps I am being naïve, expecting people to do more than the absolute minimum but gee wiz people, stop hiding behind the law. You might be a law-abiding citizen but your still a rude, inconsiderate sob!