"Sometimes...You Must Break the Rules for a Greater Good."

It’s easy to say "we followed the rules."

The Nazi Generals said they were "following the rules" when they murdered nearly 30 million innocent children, women and men; the hospital personnel said they were "following the rules" as an individual lay dead on the floor of an emergency waiting room while his watch was stolen in the process; and the military personnel at Abu Grab said they were "following the rules" when they tortured and murdered Iraqi prisoners.

When a SEPTA driver is told by her supervisor not to assist an elderly man on her bus that was unresponsive, urinating, and finally died because her route could not be delayed, there is no longer any doubt that we’ve become desensitized to the point that we’ve lost our humanity.

We must be willing to break the rules for a greater good. From the Nazi Generals down to the privates, to the military personnel from Abu Grab, they were in position to say “No! I will not follow the rules nor participate directly or indirectly where I am to perform acts of fear and violence on others." The SEPTA supervisor and the hospital personnel had the authority to forgo the organization and hospital standard policies and procedure and address the individuals that required immediate medical assistance. Unfortunately, they chose “rules” over human compassion.

As we continue down this slippery slope of quickly losing our humanity and becoming “compassionately and emotionally void” to one another, imagine how difficult it will be in our efforts to regain it.




Anthony P. Johnson