We cannot survive on rules alone....more discussion

Previously, I wrote:
What's a rule if you don't follow it. Or, what's a rule if no one else is following it? Actually, what makes a rule a rule? If only we all did what was right, there would be no need for rules. So don't feel bad if you break a rule, as long as you are doing right. That just means you've transcended the rule.

Of course, I think I have it all figured out (lie). But I still like to engage in discussion....
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The way I see it:

Rules are necessary. This is ONLY because of human nature. If everyone was "good" all the time, and no one did anything harmful or irresponsible, there would be no need for rules. For example, would we need speed limits if everyone drove carefully, safely, and contentiously? If people were responsible enough to go slow in residential areas on their own, and didn't feel the need to drive aggressively as if they were invincible on the highway, there would not be signs limiting speed. Unfortunately, people's poor judgment, impatience, and lack of respect for others make traffic laws vital.

We live in a society, a community. Upon the creation of communities, people entered into certain social contracts. This was the dawn of man-made rules.

Let's go back to this beginning. Early Man has formed the first small community consisting of three families. The Ug family is kind, considerate, respectful, and intelligent. They are my model for "perfect" people and represent the unachievable ideal of goodness. The Oh family is crippled by their own stupidity. They represent error in human judgment. Then there is the Gr family. The Gr family is wicked. They are dishonest, selfish, vengeful, and disrespectful. Unfortunately, the Gr family is also very intelligent.

If all the families were like the Ug family, there would be no need for rules. Everyone would live in a peaceful Utopia. People would instinctively know the right thing to do, and always chose to do it. Unfortunately, the reality of this situation is that there is only one Ug family. In order for the Ug family to survive, rules must be imposed upon the community as a whole.

The Oh family must have guidance to ensure that their stupidity does nothing to harm the others. Since Ohs can't figure it out by themselves, limited by their own intellectual capacity, they rely on a set of rules created in the best interest of their community to instruct them on how to behave. These rules would tell the Ohs to be respectful by defining for them what respectful means. A rule created for the Ohs would be along the lines of, "Don't pee upstream when other community members are washing their loincloths downstream."
The Gr family would need rules to control their evilness. If left to their own devices, the Grs would take more than their fair share of the natural resources, leaving other members in the community to go without while the Grs indulge and waste precious food, water, animal skins, etc. They would harm others and the environment for their own entertainment. The Grs would destroy another's creation because they are jealous. The Grs are not stupid. They are cold and calculated. They are self-serving. The Grs need rules to force them to be considerate and respectful when they don't want to be. A rule created for the Grs would be along the lines of, "Don't take what is not yours or you will be thrown off a mountain top."

The community came together under a set of rules that kept the best interests of the unit as its top priority. The rules were based upon how the Ugs lived naturally, so they followed all of the rules without having to ever pause and think. The Ohs followed the rules happily, with no need for consequences. They were willing to blindly do as they were told, no question. Full trust that the rules were in place for good. The Grs needed a stringent set of rules with unforgiving consequences to inspire fear and force compliance.

Because of the rules, the community was not only able to exist, but to be fruitful, multiply and sustain existence through the centuries. Ugs, Ohs, and Grs came together in business and in marriage and were successful in both. The communities grew larger and more widespread. And the rules were continuously developed to insure that as technology improved, communities would continue to function properly. Each new advance required a new set of rule for the decedents of the Ohs and Grs.

Today's modern set of rules are based on the Ug-Oh-Gr hybrid society we live in. Everyone is a decedent of these 3 bloodlines. Some people still carry much more of one family in their bloodlines than others, but we are all so muddled, it's impossible to tell how much of each. Robin Hood was mostly Ug and Oh. He had the best of intentions to help the poor, but didn't know that stealing from the rich to give to the poor was a temporary and improper solution. I'd say 50% good and 50% stupid.
Our society needs rules to survive. However, knowing that rules have evolved with our culture, and have continuously been rewritten by men that have both Oh and Gr in their blood, I would consider it dangerous to follow every rule to the letter without making the conscious moral decision to follow that rule because it actually is the right thing to do.

There is no rule that says, "stop and help someone who has car trouble and is on the side of the road." There is also no rule that says, "Hold the elevator for the elderly man walking a few steps behind you" or "return a lost wallet to its rightful owner if you find it on the ground" but these are all examples of the right thing to do.

So, since rules don't encompass everything we need to do in our life to be "good" people doing the "right" thing, then how can they possibly be 100% accurate in outlining all of the "bad" things that we shouldn't do?

Some exceptions:

Don't speed-----unless you are rushing someone to the hospital and their life depends on it.
Don't lie-----unless you are protecting someone (the people who hid their Jewish friends and relatives during the holocaust were not wrong to lie to the Nazis.)

In both of the aforementioned examples, there is a rule imposed for a good reason, and a real need to break that rule for a greater reason. Rules are not inherently good or bad. They must be constantly validated through action. They must be examined and applied to every situation rather than spread thickly over our lives like peanut butter.

We are each gifted with our own moral compass from the Ugs, we have limitations on our own understanding of it from the Ohs, and we all have a darkness tempting us to not follow this compass from the Grs. We can "justify" breaking a rule as a Gr, doing so for the wrong reason and causing harm. This is wrong. We can "justify" breaking a rule as an Oh, making an honest mistake and feeling remorse for it. This is human. And we can "justify" breaking a rule as an Ug, seeking a greater good than the rule allows in the situation. This is transcending the rule. This is as close as we come to divinity.