[Wild Shots: Photos of Mother Nature in Alaska]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n• Unwritten rules: These are the hardest things for a rule follower to deal with. How are you supposed to know that you should always face forward in an elevator, to avoid staring down the hapless people trapped in that tiny space with you? In an absence of written rules, how can you possibly know how to respond to the question, “Does this make me look fat?” Whether you know about them or not, you break unwritten rules at your social peril.<\/p>\n
Then there are some rules that are optional:<\/p>\n
• Rules of decorum. We don’t worry so much about these anymore. It’s good to be polite in public, but it’s hard to work up a passion about the behavior of others. I can’t think of the last time I heard someone comment disparagingly on my method of eating asparagus.<\/p>\n
P.G. Wodehouse’s characters were always obsessed with this fascinating subject in his Jeeves and Wooster books set in the 1920s and ‘30s. Apparently one’s method of eating asparagus was an indicator of that person’s worth as a human being. Thank goodness we’ve moved past that form of judgment. I’d hate to have to confess my own method of eating asparagus.<\/p>\n
• Rules of spelling and grammar. Did I just say that? As a rule follower, I always strive to use proper grammar, and I see no excuse for spelling errors in the age of spell checkers. I routinely send emails that are grammatically correct. But I do acknowledge the lowering of expectations.<\/p>\n
In a nod to the changing times, I have relaxed my vigilance when it comes to text messages. Sometimes I leave off the period at the end of my texts — I confess. I do try hard not to judge others when they opt out of the rules of spelling and grammar.<\/p>\n
• Official rules for board games. Sure, they say they’re “official,” but nobody’s enforcing these rules, are they? It’s frighteningly easy to revert to “house rules,” a euphemism for “we play the game however we want to in our house.”<\/p>\n
So, how about you? Are you a rule follower? There’s a simple test.<\/p>\n
When you play the board game Monopoly, do you get money when you land on Free Parking? If you do, you’re no rule follower. It says explicitly in the rules, “A player landing on this space does not receive any money, property or reward of any kind. This is just a ‘free’ resting place.”<\/p>\n
Now you know.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Peggy McKee Barnhill is a wife, mother, and author who writes cozy mysteries under the pen name \u201cGreta McKennan.\u201d She likes to look at the bright side of life. Her column runs on the last Sunday of every month.<\/b><\/p>\n
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