Faced the question of “Where do you draw the line” lately?  If you have any kids out of diapers you certainly have; at least hourly.  Ever heard, “Jesus told me I don’t have to eat eggs”?  Or, “I don’t know who wrote my name on my bedroom wall with a permanent marker.”  If you are generally healthy and enjoy any degree of freedom, the perplexity pops up like a bag of Redenbacher in the microwave.  “Always order diet drinks with your super-sized mega cheese bacon burger and lardy fries”.  Or, ” The swimsuit edition of SI never led anyone to a serious porn habit”.  If you find yourself in any form of leadership, it never goes away but presents itself in a myriad of changing forms.  “If I wuz runnin’ this place, Miss Patty Perfect would be lookin’ for employment”.  Or, ”You didn’t write up Ever Early Eddy last year when he was five minutes late because he accidentally ran over a pet tiger on his way to work”.   On the plus side, we have laws which draw clear lines for us and our task is simply to abide by those laws. “While I was reading through the IRS rules and regs online, they only made 14,933 changes by the time I finished”.  Or, “What do you mean it’s not OK to turn right on red in West We’re Different, Ohio?”  Then the question may become, “What if I don’t agree with a particular law?”.  Here are a few contentious and actual examples of legislation from my home state of Alabama.  “It’s illegal to maim oneself to escape duty”.  “Dominoes may not be played on Sunday”.  “It’s illegal to wear a false mustache which may cause laughter in church”.  And the most insolent of all, “Boogers may not be flicked into the wind”.   

I’m guessing you can think of a few laws which have drawn a line in a place totally contrary to your personal values.  Do you have options?  Sure you do!  This is still the “land of the free”.  But, are you free to blatantly break other laws to make your point?

According to the lead article in the June 24, 2013 issue of TIME, we now have organized groups termed “hacktivists”.  Obviously, they feel free to break laws to make their point.  So far stealing, treason and leaving the country to escape arrest are among the law-breaking activities deemed admirable by some.  Bless their hearts, their Mommy (oops, make that unnamed gender parent) must have been too politically correct to actually draw a cruel, personality damaging line never to be crossed.  Clearly, there is reason for concern about our rights to privacy as American citizens.  No, Uncle Sam nor Big Brother (oops, I did it again!) need to know that I used my cell phone to order dangerously unhealthy bread sticks with my cheese-filled extra thick crust pizza at least 3 times over the past 7 years”.   But, the law is the law and punishment is due for those who choose to break laws.  The law of consequences for actions is as old as the human race.  Well,  it goes at least as far back as 1950 when I was a three-year-old.  Surely we are not going to revisit where to draw that line.

What do you think about the latest “hacktivist” aka Edward Snowden?  And, how do you decide where to draw the line(s)?