DeMizio's Journal

Civil Disobdience

"I heartily accept the motto,—"That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have"

"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?"

"Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?"

"As for adopting the ways of the State has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has not everything to do, but something; and because he cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he should be petitioning the Governor or the Legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if they should not hear my petition, what should I do then? "

-- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" link: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/civil/

So...

Despite the fact that we've been playing tennis at night (10pm-12am usually) for the past THREE WEEKS

Despite the fact that we've had "Adult" supervision (RD's) for some of these games

Despite the fact that the tennis courts are lit past 10pm (one's lights shut off at 11pm, the others' lights don't shut off at all)

DESPITE THE FACT THAT "SECURITY" HAS TAKEN NO NOTICE OF US UNTIL TONIGHT... In that its not like they would actually have someone ACTIVELY WATCHING THE DAMN COURTS

La Salle "Security" threw us off the courts tonight when we went down to play at 10pm.

This really irritates me, as I was just getting back into this tennis thing, and was starting to get good. The days have been too hot to play (as there are no trees providing much needed shade in 90+ degree weather) and there has been no time (working 9-5 takes a toll on ya)

So, yeah, if this doesn't get resolved tomorrow favorably (i.e. that we are able to play again at night) then I may engage in some civil disobedience and play against the will of the University. The next journal entry may be from a holding cell at the Philadelphia Police Department. As Thoreau wrote...

"Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

Sigh...I'm angry, but moreso bored now without the tennis.

La Salle Security - go bother somebody else, or do your damn job. Is someone in the booth in the Hayman parking lot? I think not. Get off our backs, we're not the bad guys.

Posted by Matthew at July 8, 2003 11:10 PM