Why I don't break the law.

Of course I speed. And my car is still licensed in Illinois, even though I live in Missouri so I don't have to pay personal property tax. Sometimes I run red lights, but only if they are a ripe shade of yellow. These laws are such little white laws that no one even notices most of the time. I have no desire to rape or murder, because that just goes against my own personal ethics code. But I have to admit, after leaving Best Buy last night, the only thing that kept me from not swiping a CD is fear. That and they didn't have what I wanted anyway. Rat bastages. When I say I have a desire to steal from Best Buy, it's only because it's a faceless giant of a corporation. It's not like I'd hop a plane to Africa to lift a goat from a child in Ethiopia.

Last night I came to the realization that the only reason I behave as a law abiding citizen is pure fear. Fear of being caught and fear of punishment, particularly sharing a cell with a large woman. And honestly, I don't even care if I get caught in the "Oh no, she's a thief" sort of caught, it's the sentencing after the being caught.

This got me thinking. (Look out!) Do people only obey laws out of fear of punishment? Are laws ethical commandments for those of us that otherwise would scoff at such moral injustices? And does it even matter? Is a society filled with moral people different from law abiding felons as long as neither of them break any laws? As long as they are sticking to the same moral code (laws) what's the difference if they are ethical or not? As most of you know, I'm not a religious person. Although I wasn't raised with scriptures and commandments on how to live, I feel that my parents instilled a great set of ethics in me and overall I'm an alright person. I guess where most kids have the fear of god, I have the fear of prison.

I could answer this entire dilemma by posing the question, "Would I break laws if there was no punishment?" Hmm... If that means looting, pillaging and stealing, then hell yeah because that's pretty piratish, and we all know how I love pirates. And honestly, I can't think of any law besides stealing that I want to break that I don't already. So I guess it's solved. The answer is: I'M AWESOME!

As a side note about me not being so awesome, I found out today I didn't get the Brown Shoe job. If they only knew what they were missing. Mwahaha.