On The Rule Of the Road - A. G. Gardiner

 

Alfred George Gardiner (1865-1946) was an English Journalist, editor and author.  His essays were written in the name of 'Alpha of the Plough' in the London evening newspaper, the Star.  He is famous for his essays that are organized logically and coherently with appropriate transitions and examples.  His 'On the Rule of the Road' is taken from his compilation titled 'Leaves in the wind'.  This essay deals with the manners of the people on the road and how important it is to obey traffic rules.  Though it deals with the traffic laws that ensure safety and prevent accident, it also makes the reader think about liberty and responsibility of all in a society and also about the limits of freedom.

A stout old lady who was walking with her basket down the middle of the street in Petrograd created problems on the road.  Here her individual liberty becomes the social anarchy.  So, liberty is not only a personal affair, but a social contract too.  That is why the policeman at Piccadilly circus, who controls the traffic is not considered as a symbol of tyranny but of liberty.  One is as free as one likes unless and otherwise it touches some other one's freedom.  One may practise trombone in a remote place.  But if he or she does it in the home, it will cause trouble to others.  As Hazlitt says, at least he must practise his trombone in the attic and shut the windows. Then A.G.Gardiner talks about his experience  in a railway carriage, where  a fellow traveller talked to his friend in a loud and pompous voice.  According to A.G. Gardiner such people are people without social sense.  He is also of the opinion that the rights of small people and quiet people should be preserved as the rights of the small nationalities preserved.

According to A.G. Gardiner all should have to preserve both their individual liberty and social liberty.  We have the right to deny the authority who interfere into the liberty of selecting schools and courses for our children.  But at the same time if we say that our children should be brought up as primeval savages without education the society will use its right and ask us to provide a certain minimum of education to our children.  We have liberty.  But that liberty should not be a nuisance to our neighbours or make our children a burden or a danger to the common wealth.  Thus, A. G. Gardiner through the traffic rules makes the readers think about the rights and responsibilities  of responsible citizens and establishes that the right of the nation is more important than the rights of the people.

------Thulasidharan V