Friday, May 22, 2015

The Value of Teeth

No one can deny the value of those white enamel chisels that masticate the food of virtually every mammal and many reptiles and fish on this planet. Though they may vary is size, shape and usefulness (dogs seem to inhale their daily dinner despite excellent chompers), teeth are an excellent evolutionary advantage.

"Teeth" also have a metaphoric meaning as well, i.e. the local water district has now put "teeth" in their request to conserve water by mandating a specific window within which one can water their landscape. A useless request formerly, a new mandate comes with a $500 fine for second time offenders with an escalated price tag thereafter.

This, my friends, is what I call "putting teeth" in the law. Even a water conservation nut like myself went poste-haste to my water controller and readjusted the watering times to the now required schedule, even though I had already put in drought tolerant plants with drip lines maximized for watering efficiency.

The only good laws are laws that have teeth in them. Otherwise, who cares, except the exceptional individual with global awareness coupled with an unswerving, exacting discipline. Most humans have an uncanny ability to deny or simply ignore that which does not serve them in the immediacy of the now (infantile behavior).

Note the phrase good laws. Having "teeth" in unjust laws equals a draconion society wherein much suffering occurs. But just imagine, as John Lennon would say, a world in which beneficial laws for all would be installed with a massive set of chompers for those who would ignore the common good!


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