No Parking

Jon, Cass, Jay & I were looking for parking up in Portsmouth this weekend. We found a parking area, but all of the spots had No Parking signs.

For the most part, they also had cars in them.

Here was my thought process:

• It’s not smart to park in designated No Parking spots because your car might get towed.
• It’s unlikely that any authority figures will come out to this remote area.
• Other people are parked in these spots. They’d have to tow a lot of cars.
• We’re not planning on staying very long, so it’s unlikely that someone will check within this time period.
• Okay, let’s park here.

Please note, that train of thought doesn’t include either of these thoughts:

• It is wrong to disobey parking laws.
• If there is a No Parking sign, there must be a good reason for it to be there.

Logically, why is it wrong to disobey parking laws? And there are a lot of signs that don’t really have a good reason to be there. Consider the many intersections in New England that have a yield sign on one corner and a stop sign on another.

At the time, I didn’t stop to justify my decision. I just figured, hey, we probably won’t get caught, and not parking here will be inconvenient for me. In this situation, I didn’t feel the need to be right, I just wanted to do what I wanted and not get punished.

This can’t say good things about my moral compass, or about my reliance on logic to make good decisions.

So, let me ask you:

• How likely are you to do something you know is bad or illegal?
• How much more likely are you to do it if you have no fear of repercussions?
• If other people are also misbehaving, do you feel more comfortable doing so?
• If you can figure out a way to justify your (morally rotten) decision, will you believe that you are in the right?