It’s a common adage, “Make your own rules”, as a precursor to success and confidence. It recently struck me how it reflects the spirit of the large majority of Pakistani drivers on the roads. Here is something that happens regularly, you stop at a red light, and a number of cars wait behind you, while a few maneuver their way around and break the red light (as if it never even existed) and speed their way to whatever destination they were headed towards. Sometimes, when you’re stopped at a red light, and the road in front of you is clear, the cars behind will start honking, frustrated that you have chosen to stand in front of a red light despite their being no traffic in front of you.

 The epiphany came when a big 4WD vehicle crossed and me and broke the signal. It struck me that the driver was actually “making his own rules” and disregarding any other rules. Must be quite a successful person; making his own rules and hence living in his own private world. I mentioned this to a couple of friends, and of them came back with a witty response asking me when my flight had landed in Pakistan, insinuating that I was irritated as if I were a foreigner to this country. That’s the other problem: we have gotten used to it so much that we take the lack of rules for granted. (To be fair, the very good friend who made the joke always stops on lights).

 So here’s what I suggest, let’s not go on making our own rules, or creating our own roads. It’s just a pre-cursor to the corruption within our system. If your work is not being done, “make your own rules/roads” and grease some palms; if you can’t get a job get someone who’s big to tell someone who’s big to get you the job. It’s all about making your own luck and being successful.

 Well it’s utter crap. Let’s start by being patient enough to stop at red lights and hopefully everything else will follow. Let’s follow some rules… after all they have brought success and sense to developed nations.