Social Contract

a)    a)  Before we were born, we signed a social contract with our government.  The social contract requires that we obey the laws in return for military protection and social benefits.  All these benefits that society provides us whether it’s delivering the mail or fighting off terrorists, can’t be given for free.  Everything has a price or consequence.  We must pay our taxes if we want free health care.  We have to obey the laws that mandate that we must not murder if we want safety.  If we don’t, then there’s no health care and there’s chaos.  These are the reasons as to why the social contract between man and government was originally formed.  However, we continue to uphold this contract because once the contract is made, it’s almost inconceivable to break it.  Whether it’s because the idea never crossed our mind or because it would be too difficult of a feat, we don’t back out of this social contract.  Or it could simply be because the benefits of honoring the social contract outweigh the benefits of breaking off and doing whatever we want.  This last reason, I feel, is the most likely.  Anarchy is the other option to having a social contract with the government.  Does anarchy offer something that the government does not?  I suppose the answer is freedom, but my feeling is that the relinquishing of the right to a few freedoms is worth the benefits that an organized society provides.  The government only limits me from a few things really.  For example, the government forbids me from roaming around buck naked.  I think I could live my life without that right.  On a more serious level, the government also forbids me from murdering or stealing.  These are things we should not do anyway for they are harmful.  The social contract came about for a reason and humans have accepted it since the birth of Mesopotamia. 

b)     b) Society is beholden to us once again through the social contract.  A contract requires a give and take from both sides.  We pay our taxes, so the government must use our taxes for our benefit.  Otherwise, we would never pay our taxes in the first place.  The government and the society as a whole are in place to serve us.  Everything it does is for the overall benefit of our society. I won’t ignore the fact that this overall benefit in society usually results in the harm of certain individuals or the minority.  However, over time, usually these wrongs are fixed as shown through America’s history.  Much of the South’s stability and wealth was built on the backs of the black slaves.  Yet the injustice of this was recognized and there was a civil war to change this wrong.  (This is also an example of when it is right to fight the laws of society.)   In America, specifically, our government officials are elected by us so they must be able to please us.  So long as the government meets the needs of the people, the government continues to exist and the social contract is upheld. 

c)     c) The circumstances under which we could break the laws that society requires us to follow are when the government doesn’t uphold its part of the social contract.  If a tyrant comes in control and acts for his or her benefit at all, then the social contract is broken.  The people no longer need to follow the law and should not follow the law since it’s not in their interest to do so.  The government exists solely for the benefit of the people.  In other words, the only circumstance under which people could disobey societal laws is when the government breaches its part of the social contract.  Some might also suggest that one should not follow a seemingly unjust law.  My feeling is that all laws must be followed, no matter how unjust it may seem assuming the government is still working for the people.  However, moves should be made to recognize the injustice at hand and then change the law.  This is when people campaign outside the White House or write letters to the president.  So far, I think this method to opposing unjust laws has worked for the most part.  

Know Thyself

To know yourself is to truly understand the nature of yourself.  That is, you have to be aware of your weaknesses and strengths.  Limits of stress, irritations, infatuations, talents are all part of the knowledge of yourself.  I could list many other components that make up the nature of a person, but I believe that the traits could be summed as the aspects of a person that explain his or her actions.  If you can understand why you act the way you do, then you can work to utilize or change that attribute.  Knowledge is power, even self-knowledge.  This understanding of yourself will then allow you to understand others.  We all have flaws and we all have great capabilities.  Being aware of your flaws allows you to more easily forgive others when they make mistake.  Being aware of your own talents should make you understand that others will be better at certain things than you.  So in general, understanding yourself gives you a perspective.  Without this perspective, we cannot form true friendships with one another. 

My worst quality has to be my lack of impulse control.  The idea of delaying pleasure is just so unappealing and I rarely listen to the little voice that tells me to do so.  This problem has been the greatest source of distress in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I get good grades to feed my own pride, but I’m also trying very hard to avoid the wrath of my parents.  Each time I choose pleasure over studying for the test I receive a good half of hour of lecturing and/or yelling.  This sounds trivial, but it’s amazingly distressful.  Outside of the context of school, I have a tendency voice exactly what I think, another manifestation of my lack of impulse control.  So, I come off emotional and way too blunt.  I am emotional and blunt, but I should really try to hide those two qualities a little more if I don’t want to offend people. 

My best quality must be my ability to empathize with people.  I’m not saying that I always understand others or that I never throw around a nasty insult.  I only mean that I can feel the pain someone experiences in their worst moments.  Every now and then people get off the bus that is life and take a pit stop at the wrong place.  I have been there and I’ve stayed there for a while.  I know what it’s like to feel completely alone or just hurt.  So if I see that in someone else, I can guarantee that I’m the first person to take his or her side.  It doesn’t matter if the person deserves the pain or not.  In that moment, he or she truly needs a friend.  I can always be that friend.  Sometimes, unfortunately, my friendship isn’t always welcomed and I really should learn to back off and give that person some space.  But I can’t.  Our friends are what keep us grounded to this world.  If that person can just realize that I care, then I’m satisfied.  I cannot imagine ever allowing someone to feel alone.  I feel and am so strong now, so it almost seems like a duty to give back some of my strength to the world. 

I’m actually not finding it all that difficult to think or write about this, but I think it must be because I’ve done so much self-reflection in the past.  One thing I remember being particularly difficult was admitting my flaws.  If I say it out loud or write it down, all of a sudden my flaws are completely real.  Being aware of my flaws hurt because I all I saw was all that was wrong with me.  Then, if I try to think about my strengths, my mind keeps zeroing back in on my flaws.  Next thing I know, I’m wallowing in self-pity.  However, as soon as I got past that stage I was able to think about myself a little more objectively.  That’s when I got the determination to change what I didn’t like about myself, and use my strengths to gain confidence.  My self-reflection experience has been really healthy and I really have no objections to thinking about myself.  The experience has also made me really grateful for my family.  I can definitely see how parts of my character have been shaped by the fact that I have great parents.