I don't think anyone mentioned the Social Contract theory so far? If you did, sorry.
One thing to ask yourself: How much do you enjoy the fruits of our society? Television, paved roads, grocery stores, buttered toast, staredit.net, toilet paper, contact lenses, showers, chairs, clothing, ect.
Imagine there are two people on earth, and you are one of them. You and Bob, let's say. You have a house, and Bob has a house. There are no rules, rights or wrongs, and no one to hold you accountable. So you have a couple options. You can slave away by yourself all day, work and chop wood for your fire and hunt and skin your kill and eat then sleep to do it all over again the next day. So you see Bob one day in the woods, and both of you are pretty tired of it. You're both lonely, tired, bored, and beat up from all the work you've been doing. So you agree to work together. Bob goes out hunting and you chop firewood. You skin the meal and cook it while bob drags the logs inside. Between the two of you, you have an extra house, plenty of food and warmth, and not to mention some company. I think you can see where this is going.
Now, I think a lot of people might say this doesn't apply to modern day society. There are 6 billion people in the world, and it won't make a difference if I kill the bum down the street. Well, that's true. But that would make you an exception to the no murder rule, and everyone else who isn't murdering is following the rule. But look what would happen if no one followed the no murder rule. If everyone killed who they pleased, well that's worse than war. At least in war you don't kill your comrades.
Hopefully this wasn't just a reiteration of what someone else said, and helped you.
Edit:
IN PRISON you spend the majority of your time in an 8x10 cell.
AT WORK you spend most of your time in a 6x8 cubicle.
IN PRISON you get three meals a day.
AT WORK you only get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.
IN PRISON you get time off for good behaviour.
AT WORK you get rewarded for good behaviour with more work.
IN PRISON a guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK you must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors yourself.
IN PRISON you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK you get fired for watching TV and playing games.
IN PRISON you get your own toilet.
AT WORK you have to share.
IN PRISON they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK you cannot even speak to your family and friends.
IN PRISON all expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.
IN PRISON you spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside wanting to get out.
AT WORK you spend most of your time wanting to get out and inside bars.
IN PRISON there are wardens who are often sadistic.
AT WORK they are called managers.
At work you make money. At work you leave at 5pm to go home and do whatever you like. At work you don't get raped by a large bald man named Frank who has a fetish for men with makeup on. At work you can decide to quit. At work you have free will. At work you can storm out if you get pissed at people. Et cetera.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 15 2009, 2:06 am by Vrael.
None.