written February 24, 1997 for my senior World Literature course.
"Man at his best is the noblest of all creatures; separated from law and justice, he is the worst," Aristotle once wrote. People like to think that they are noble. To think otherwise would be to admit failure. Depending on a person's moral values and environment, being taken from law and justice will not alwas lead to that person being at his worst.
Man rarely reaches his most noble state, when only the best values and qualities are shown in him. To be noble, one must do good, being ruled by his morals and heart. When that state of nobility is reached, it usualy does not last because afterall, we are only human. Most people are concerned only with themselves and their lovedones. To be truly noble, a person must look past his own desires and work towards teh good of the whole, and this rarely happens in today's society. If in a community, the different families care only about themselves, thennothing will get done. No one would want to be involved with anything ouside their yard. If there is a crime or accident in the neighborhood, the victims would suffer. yet if this same community would pull together and take into consideration the whole neightborhood, things would be different. In times of chaos or pain, things would get better because everyone would be willing to do his share and more. Depending on the laws of a society, nobility can relate to the law and order of the society. If the laws of a society reflect high moral values, then the society could be considered to have a degree of nobility.
There is a thin line between law and justice. If laws are too strict and controlling, the laws will lead to hatred and rebellion. A good example of this is teh cafeteria study hall at the beginning of the year. The students felt as if the study hall was too strict with too many rules and impractical procedures. Students were not permitted to leave their seats for any reason, not even to use the trash cans, and were not even permitted to turn in their seats, but must sit facing the wall the entire time. The teachers also made the studnets stay in the study hall until roll was called, sometimes wasting half of the class period. This led studnets to feel a sense of rebellion and hatred towards the dictator-like study hall teachers. Student's goals now included thinking of loop-holes in the study hall rules. Students did everything in their poower to make teh study hall teachers miserable without getting caught. The same thing happens in a strict, controlling society. People need some freedoms and choices in their life. Without these basic human rights, they will eventually lead to the overthrow of the oppressive governtment. Therefore, when the controlling group acts with little nobility, it causes others in the group to act with little nobility. I would not say it leads all members to their worst, but it certainly brings all the members of the group down.
Yet if no laws are enforced and everyone is allowed to do as he pleases with no consequences, things can get dangerously out of control. On a certain school bus, no student is made to obey any of the bus rules. Several times this could have led to an accident with tragic results. The students feel as if they can get away with doing anything. One time a student grabbed the bus driver's hate and coat as a prank, foricing the driver to take his hands from the wheel for am oment and his eyes from the road. In societies where there are no laws or where the laws are not enforced, then everyone will do what he wants without thinking of the consequences or even caring. Everyone will be the ruler, and everyone knows that too many chiefs and too few Indians will always lead to disaster.
The goal of any civilized society is to reach the point where both rulers and subjects are happy and content, while doing what is moral. There must be laws to maintain peace and order, but there must not be too many laws or people will lose sight of why they should obey them. If there are too many laws and people's freedoms are threatened, people will only be able to focus on their missing rights. They will not be able to see the good of the leader, only the bad. In situations like this, the leader is almost always doomed to failure. Therefore, if a leader would like to succeed, he must make his people happy, while also ensuring the sucess of the whole country. Throughout history, this has been shown to be a difficult task.
