Liberty and Social Anarchy

Lady Liberty

[I think differently about these concepts in China than I did in the United States, but that's probably not surprising.]

The passage is taken from 'The Rule of the Road', an essay written by a twentieth century essayist.

A stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street in Petrograd to the great confusion of the traffic and with no small peril to herself. It was pointed out to her that the pavement was the place for pedestrians, but she replied: 'I'm going to walk where I like. We've got liberty now.' It did not occur to the dear old lady that if liberty entitled the pedestrian to walk down the middle of the road, then the end of such liberty would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everybody else's way and nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social anarchy.

There is a danger of the world getting liberty-drunk in these days like the old lady with the basket, and it is just as well to remind ourselves of what the rule of the road means. It means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at Piccadilly Circus steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty. You may not think so. You may, being in a hurry, and seeing your car pulled up by this insolence of office, feel that your liberty has been outraged. How dare this fellow interfere with your free use of the public highway? Then, if you are a reasonable person, you will reflect that if he did not interfere with you, he would interfere with no one, and the result would be that Piccadilly Circus would be a maelstrom that you would never cross at all. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality.

Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract. It is an accommodation of interests. In matters which do not touch anybody else's liberty, of course, I may be as free as I like. If I choose to go down the road in a dressing-gown who shall say me nay? You have liberty to laugh at me, but I have liberty to be indifferent to you. And if I have a fancy for dyeing my hair, or waxing my moustache (which heaven forbid), or wearing an overcoat and sandals, or going to bed late or getting up early, I shall follow my fancy and ask no man's permission. I shall not inquire of you whether I may eat mustard with my mutton. And you will not ask me whether you may follow this religion or that, whether you may prefer Ella Wheeler Wilcox to Wordsworth, or champagne to shandy.

In all these and a thousand other details you and I please ourselves and ask no one's leave. We have a whole kingdom in which we rule alone, can do what we choose, be wise or ridiculous, harsh or easy, conventional or odd. But directly we step out of that kingdom, our personal liberty of action becomes qualified by other people's liberty. I might like to practice on the trombone from midnight till three in the morning. If I went on to the top of Everest to do it, I could please myself, but if I do it in my bedroom my family will object, and if I do it out in the streets the neighbors will remind me that my liberty to blow the trombone must not interfere with their liberty to sleep in quiet. There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to their liberties.

We are all liable to forget this, and unfortunately we are much more conscious of the imperfections of others in this respect than of our own. A reasonable consideration for the rights or feelings of others is the foundation of social conduct.

It is in the small matters of conduct, in the observance of the rule of the road, that we pass judgment upon ourselves, and declare that we are civilized or uncivilized. The great moments of heroism and sacrifice are rare. It is the little habits of commonplace intercourse that make up the great sum of life and sweeten or make bitter the journey.


Adapted from an essay by George Orwell
Source: http://www.majortests.com/sat/reading-comprehension-test05

Midterm Exams

I am lucky enough to have the academic freedom to write my own midterm exam for my senior 3 class in Changzhou. I can't wait to read their original essays about the rules and regulations that direct and shape their lives here in China. Excerpts from their papers will be posted here. My students' intellectual light- I'm going to help it shine!

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid – AP 3 Midterm Exam – Part Two

STUDENT ESSAY: This story is a great example of literature's ability to leap across cultural boundaries. Kincaid is from Antigua (in the Caribbean) and it seems the story is set there. But it transcends this setting, too; it's a timeless, universal story about the generation gap. Parents will always try desperately to pass their own values on to their children — their lifetime's worth of learning and wisdom — and children will also try desperately to discover their own values and gain their own wisdom.

Source: http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2005/girl-notes.html

Brainstorm Services

Directions: Write an essay in a similar style about rules and regulations that control your life in China. Use specific examples from your own life like Jamaica Kincaid did in her essay “Girl”. Set the tone and mood of your essay with those specific examples. Decide from what point of view you will write your essay: (Teacher-Student, Father-Son, Mother-Daughter, Elder-Teenager, another, et cetera). This essay does not have a traditional plot structure. Decide how you want to organize your essay in a creative manner so that the organization is clear and meaningful to your reader. Is there conflict in your essay? What is the theme? Are there important rules that you want to stress when you narrow and focus your topic? What kinds of relationships exist among the characters? Think about all these things when you write.

1. 1. 1. Write your essay.

2. 2. 2. Write a short literary analysis of your essay. Answer the questions above. Add more information if it is relevant and necessary. I leave that to your discretion, which means good judgment.

Lava Lamp Figure Shaping

I unearthed my lava lamp, and it still works churning purple: How exciting! Can you see the pink flamingo lurking in the background on the left? Do pink flamingos lurk? Mine does.

Better then to ask no questions? Better then to be a contented pig than an unhappy Socrates? Since factory farming is tougher on pigs than it is on philosophers, I'll take a chance.

Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

Things that would not happen in the United States...

unless strange and unusual circumstances decided to meet and mingle.

My Facebook chat feature is wacky. I am off/on just like the electricity here. I finally made friends with my television temporarily. Each time the electricity would fail, my television would fail. I am 50% certain I have figured out the problem, but until I did, I got up at least 10 times tonight to push buttons when my television connections dissolved after power outages and for other mysterious reasons.

Today, I let things get to me.

Seeing a Caution: Wet Floor sign this afternoon made me laugh. Where else could I be in the city but in the U.S. Embassy? There is no notification of six-foot deep holes on every other sidewalk, but I won't slip on wet floors. That's comforting.

I want to take a photo of the blood transfusion center before I leave Brazza, but I don't want to visit there.

My shower was cold this morning and tonight. I went to talk to the man who works at the hotel desk this evening, and it should be working in 20 minutes, maybe.

I worked hard today to acquire a list of journalists who had attended a training, only to discover it was the wrong training, but later unearthed the correct list for the correct training. Now, there are three lists. Synthesis and I must magically create a master list.

I am the registrar, class scheduler in addition to the teacher for my course. I am many departments in one!

I made this typo in an e-mail to a friend tonight, a typo that I rather like:

I am going to sign off for the night because I can't charge my computer and watch tv at the same time. I chose tv tonight. My battery is running love.

I hope your battery is running love as well!

say NO to censoring the arts

Be it wholesome Christians, pure Muslims, pious Hindus or missionary Mormons, followers of diverse gods, goddesses, prophets and so-called saviors of the human soul fight for their right to censor artists in the name of the crusade. I ask you this question: Is an $11 million dollar reward for anyone's head really necessary?

excerpt from The New York Times online, October 8, 2008
"An Artist in Exile Tests India’s Democratic Ideals"

Mr. Husain [the painter of the naked Hindu goddess above] is a Muslim who is fond of painting Hindu goddesses, sometimes portraying them nude. That obsession has earned him the ire of a small but organized cadre of Hindu nationalists. They have attacked galleries that exhibit his work, accused him in court of “promoting enmity” among faiths and, on one occasion, offered an $11 million reward for his head.

end note:

I read in the November 1, 2008 issue of the Economist today that the Red Cross predicts that at least 17.5 million people may face starvation in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Where are our priorities people?