I Am Betsilyn

Simon Says. Most have played this game in one context or another. It was fun when we were small and even into our preteen and teenage years. It was so fun to play with friends. Simon Says, take two steps forward … Simon Says, touch your nose … hop on one foot … awwwwww, if we hopped that sent us back to the beginning because Simon didn’t say hop on one foot. Lots of laughs mixed with some bad sports. After all was done another game was played or it was dinner time and playing would proceed later. Tag, Hide and Seek, bike riding, ding dong ditch as well as other games that didn’t require any game boards or playing pieces and rules that could be changed and made up as we went. Rules made up as we went adding to the basic rules agreed upon with all players.

Now we’re adults and the Simon Says that we play affects us, our families, our friends, our jobs and even our environment. It’s hard to jump when society and the government say we have to do exactly what is said and play by their rules. Written, unflexible rules. Rules that are needed to keep peace and direction. We elect people to stand for us and what we want as “rules”. Sometimes we have to play with rules we don’t agree with and sometimes we can agree to play by the rules set by the elected officials. This becomes a “trickle-up” theory as local officials answer to other officials that answer to other officials and soon our rules that we wanted enforced get lost under the umbrella of larger government bodies that have melted all rules to what they believe will be best for the people they represent. Not as simple as Simon Says anymore.

The Christian Bible states to follow the laws of the land. It also speaks of the evil that lies in wait for those who cannot recognize the disguises of evil. Are rules evil? Not in the least. They help to give guidance and consequences when broken. We need rules in society, at home and at work. It’s not the need of rules, but the rules themselves that bring out the good and bad in people.

The voting process allows us, as a people, to vote for the rules that we wish to have in place. Sometimes the rules we choose are not chosen by the majority and we have to follow the majority’s choice. Sometimes people get in the way and politics gets in the way. There have been times that evil has changed the true outcome and the chosen rules to satisfy some hidden agenda. This being said, the evil makes people not want to vote and have their voices heard for fear that evil will step in and instill rules that don’t have the majority vote. They think it doesn’t matter anyway so they keep their opinions stifled.

All the politics put aside … Simon Says is the most simple way to describe “rules”. Follow the rules and if you want to change the rules, do something about it when the times comes to change the rules and discuss the pros and cons. But, also as in Simon Says request the change of rules and be willing to accept the changes with grace and compromise.

Now, go change the world one “rule” at a time.