I have recently picked up another Hoffman’s book titled Second Nature about a man’s journey from living a life between the wolves and readjusting to society. It described Stephen’s journey in learning the way people live in society and indirectly makes a ridicule out of it. The funny thing is, it’s true. What can I say, we find humor in the truth about our lives — although of course, it’s never about us, it’s always that other person. Right?

  1. We stop at a Stop sign, even though, clearly, we’re the only ones in the intersection.
  2. We let strangers take the body of the dead away from us
  3. We dress up “funny” just to impress our neighbors
  4. and so on…

Basically, we live in a society where rules boxes us in. It’s for the better, of course, since a society without rules would be like a pack of wolves without a leader. We need those rules, as ridiculous as they may be, we need it nonetheless. There is freedom, yes, but within boundaries — because that’s simply the society that we’re living in! Unhappy with that, you can simply move away and find a society that suits you best. It’s only a plane/boat ride away, no?

Perhaps the reason that we need these rules is because we are creative. Each individual has different wants and needs, different desires and ideas. If there are no rules, each person would fight to lead and establish what he/she thinks is right and wrong. As productive as that may sound, it would be very chaotic to let such a thing to happen. It’ll be like a roomful of politicians each with an idea completely of their own — yeah, imagine that.

We are wild and creative creatures who have learned the ways of this society. To not walk around naked, to fill out forms, to say good morning and good byes… Stephen would have to learn all this when he is 30-something and have lived his whole entire life in the wild. The only memory he has of societal life would be the baby books his mother used to read to him when he was three (before she died in a plane crash and thus left him stranded for the wolves to adopt). We are animals, trained, just like Stephen, to live the way we do.

I wonder what type of society we would live in if we were never given these rules in the first place? It would be something like the stone ages, most likely. I just think that it’s interesting how human have that ability to form this society and set rules — even though they were never told to do it. I mean, look around the globe and see the different societies people live in.

So rules are good, I suppose. Although I can’t help myself grunting every time I hit that breaks at a stop sign when clearly, there is no one around.

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