“Nobody talks to children. No, they just tell them.”

For freedom-loving rebels, obeying rules is a behavior at odds with the attributes that make a rebel a rebel: willfulness, deviance, self-preservation and nonconformance.  I’ll point out the obvious that rebels don’t do “conformance” well.  Rules, on the other hand, require conforming behavior in the form of instruction that calls for unyielding compliance.  Instructive rules irritate rebels who feel confined by the unwelcome direction that, according to the rebel, unnecessarily limits and binds.  In the quote above from the cinema classic, Rebel Without a Cause, James Dean (Jim) excruciatingly points out another irritation about rules:  adults unfairly “just tell” children rules instead of explaining the rules to them.  These irritations about rules bewildered frustrated 1950’s rebels to the core.  Like the rebels of old, today’s rebels find rules and their communication causeless.  For Mr. Dean back then and all you modern rebels out there now, I have found rule-obeying solutions with great “cause” that will even appeal to your psyche!  So, take a seat James Dean!  I’m going to give you a “cause” in the form of safety rules.

A few times in the movie, Mr. Dean seems astonished that his rebel ways have not cut his life short.  Well James, obeying safety rules keeps you safe, hence, preserving life and quelling the astonishment that you’re still alive.  When it comes to achieving safety greatness, rules are better left obeyed because they are designed to protect.  Let’s start with an obvious ethos that should appeal to Mr. Dean.  Many safety rules preserve life and rebels like to live.  In many of the manufacturing facilities I visit, posted rules protect employees from life threatening hazards.  Consider the high-voltage-do-not-enter rule.  Have you seen what 480 volts can do to a person that would rebelliously ignore this rule?  Even rebels agree that electrocution is not cool.  This high-voltage rule and countless others, preserve life.  It feels great to know your life is preserved because of obeying safety rules.                  

So why do rebels have an aversion to rules?  Rule disobedience gives in to the selfish impulse of the rebel to serve their own immediate needs.  The rebel may ignore the notion that breaking rules is a selfish act that first and foremost serves the rule breaker and often times can result in hurting others.  I’ve got good news for the rebel:  obeying safety rules empowers them to first look out for number one (the rebel) and, second, benefit others with the rebel’s narcissistic safety obedience.  Here’s an easy rule that rebels can selfishly obey:  traffic rules in manufacturing facilities.  A rebel forklift driver notices an intersection with a stop sign, decides to stop because he wants to avoid injury and, as a result, the pedestrian entering the intersection does not collide with the forklift.  Who’s safe?  First and foremost, the rebel!  But don’t forget about the pedestrian who emerged unscathed after crossing paths with a rebel and his machine.  Obeying safety rules gives cause to the rebel allowing him to unapologetically serve his self-interest by protecting himself and less importantly (to the rebel) knowing others will benefit from the selfish act.  That’s a pretty good cause! 

Sadly, rebels in the 1950’s couldn’t quite wrap their brains around their angst with rules.  Many a rebel wondered unfruitfully about the purpose of all the rules in the world.  The good news is safety rules have purpose!  A wise career safety professional told me a story about his team that was comprised of a few rebels that didn’t like the safety glasses rule.  Day after day these rebels couldn’t come to grips with obeying this rule that required rule keepers to wear nerdy glasses.  Not cool!  This clever safety professional resisted “telling” and opted to “explain” that obeying the safety-glasses rule was not really about compliance – an action rebels hate; rather, it’s really about keeping your eyesight intact.  This thoughtful explanation seemed to wash away the angst and replace it with purpose that few battle-tested rebels could argue against.  After all, who doesn’t like their eyesight?  Safety rules have purpose to offer the cause-deprived rebel.  

James Dean once said, “If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, he can live on after he’s dead, then maybe he was a great man.”  I think Mr. Dean was onto something!  Savvy rebels know that “bridging the gap between life and death” may come from obeying safety rules and, sure, that could be a measure of greatness!  Better yet, obeying safety rules eliminates bewilderment as to why the rebel continues to exist, allows the rebel to maintain that me-first persona and finally adds purpose or “cause” for the contemplative rebel in us all.  And even better, rebels of today are free to wildly embrace safety rules alongside their counterpart conformists without shame.  That’s right folks!  Obeying safety rules is something rebels and non-rebels can agree on clearly and harmoniously.  In doing so, the world is a safer place for all, filled with less confusion and additional cause.  

Live Safety!