There is a “NO PARKING” sign in front of our house. It is a simple sign, with only two words, but sometimes I feel that it has become the most ignored citizen in our neighborhood.
Every morning, cars, motorcycles, and rickshaws come and stop directly under the sign. It is almost like the sign is a magnet, and every vehicle is made of iron. The more clearly the sign says “NO PARKING,” the more strongly people seem to feel that they should park there.
One morning, I saw a man parking his car exactly under the sign. I politely asked him, “Brother, can't you see the ‘NO PARKING’ sign?”
He looked at the sign, then looked at me, and said, “Of course I can see it.”
“Then why are you parking here?”
He smiled and said, “I will stay only for five minutes.”
I laughed and said, “That is what everyone says. Five minutes is the national unit of parking time!”
He laughed too and walked away.
But the car stayed there.
This little incident caused me to consider the habit we have of breaking the rules. Sometimes we don't break rules because we don't know them. We break them because we think the rules are meant for other people.
If a road has a sign saying “Do Not Enter,” we become curious about what is inside. If a button says “Do Not Press,” suddenly our finger becomes very interested in pressing it. If a place says “Keep Silent,” someone will surely start talking loudly on the phone.
It seems that a forbidden thing becomes more attractive to us. A simple red sign becomes like a red apple hanging from a tree. We know we should not touch it, but our mind whispers, “Just once. Nobody will notice.”
The funniest part is that we often become very strict when other people break the rules. If someone parks in front of our house, we become angry. If someone throws rubbish near our door, we complain. But when we need to do the same thing, suddenly we have a hundred reasons.
“I was in a hurry.”
“It was only for two minutes.”
“Everyone does it.”
“There was nowhere else to park.”
These excuses are like small umbrellas. We use them to protect ourselves from the rain of responsibility.
I sometimes think that rules are like traffic lights. They are not there to make our lives difficult. They are there because everyone wants to move in the same direction without crashing into one another. But if everyone decides that their own hurry is more important than the rule, the whole road becomes a battlefield.
The “NO PARKING” sign is therefore not only about parking. To me, it is a small mirror of our society. It shows how easily we ignore something when we believe the rule is inconvenient for us.
Maybe the real problem is not that people cannot read signs. The problem is that they read them but do not always feel responsible for following them.
So, whenever I see a “NO PARKING” sign now, I smile a little. I imagine the poor sign standing there all day, doing its duty faithfully, while people keep ignoring it.
Perhaps the sign is not saying only, “Don't park here.”
Perhaps it is quietly saying, “Think about others too.”
And maybe that is the real rule we should never break.
