The Right to Swing Your Walking Stick

I could never remember who said it. It must have been either Mark Twain, the American humourist, or Winston Churchil - the British humourist who mesquaraded as the Prime Minister. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, the saying is "Your right to swing your (walking) stick end where my nose begins"

All of us have our rights. It is one of life's priviledges granted by God and society. Most people (except fora few dregs of society) are quite happy to grant you the right to have and practice your rights. And if they forgot, you are quite within your rights (and that, they will grant you, unless, of course, they are the dregs of society and just became one temporarily) to demand it, to fight for it. Indeed you are expected to unless you are a wimp or want to be labelled as such.

Most principled and righteous peope, self-righteous ones too, do it. I fully support them. However, in fighting for our rights one very important caveat has to be observed - we must never fight for and demand our rights if in the process of doing so we trample on other people's rights. When rights overlap then the most principled thing to do is to fall back to our principles - the ethics that is our responsibility and let the greater need prevail. To demand your right to swing our stick even beyond the tip of my nose is no longer a practice of your right but the megalomanic demand of demented self-serving person. And every ethical person would condemn such a unprincipled flaunting of one's "rights"

Except in Malaysia - the land of the broken noses.

Malaysia - Home of the Shmoo

If you guys are old enough to remember Al Capp's Li'l Abner cartoon series, you would remember the Shmoo - " the greatest menace to hoomanity th' world has evah known." Is it because they are so terrifying, so evil that humanity has to fear the Shmoo? "No, stupid," answered Ol' Man Mose, hurling one of life's profoundest paradoxes at Li'l Abner. "It's because they're so good!"

Let me quote once more from the article on the Shmoo. "Ironically, the lovable and selfless Shmoos ultimately brought misery to humankind because people with a limitless supply of self-sacrificing Shmoos stopped working and society broke down. Seen at first as a boon to humankind, they were ultimately hunted down and exterminated to preserve the status quo. "

And here is where I digress. The Shmoo were not totally exterminated. One always seem to have escaped to Al Capp's Dogpatch fairy tale world. In reality, they metamorphosed or evolved it it is to survive. One, it seemed, survived and metamorphosed in the far away land of Malayia where today they are thriving in their metamorphosed state wrecking the havoc that Ol' Man Mose predicted.

Note: for more information on the Shmoo re-read your Li'l Abner cartoons or visit http://www.lil-abner.com/shmoo.html. You will not regret it.