Top 10 list - Rules (#6)

I can hear you now.  “Rules?  I thought that this would be on the list of things you don’t like about Switzerland.”  Au contraire, mon ami.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with rules.  After all, the rule of law is what allowed civilization to advance.  As with anything, of course, rules can be taken to an extreme but properly applied they provide order and stability, valuable commodities in these parts.  What I most like about the rules here, though, is not necessarily the rules themselves but the fact that people follow them.  Voluntarily.  While it can be a bit annoying when people yell at you when you don’t (unavoidable for a newcomer),  it’s a small price to pay for the benefits gained.  For instance, this rules following culture is a chief reason that the country is so clean.   And remember, via Top 10 item #3, Direct Democracy, the rules are decided by the people themselves, not by a handful of special interests.  This leads to a level of buy-in that makes the cultural adherence possible.  People observe the rules because they want to.  It’s interesting to me that perhaps the one area where Switzerland has a paucity of rules is for those activities through which you can hurt yourself.  In contrast, the US has a surfeit of rules where someone might do something stupid, hurt themselves and then sue.  Here, since law suits are rare such rules are lacking.  Their view seems to be, stupidity is permitted.  Just don’t blame us.   In the time that we’ve lived here we’ve inadvertently executed a limited developmental experiment on this topic.  The lab rat in this case was Paige, who arrived here as a typical four year old American kid with no particular proclivity towards or against rules.  Now, nine years later, even having grown up in our “American” home, she’s a rules following soldier.  To her, it’s as natural as breathing.  She would no sooner jay walk then walk through the park naked.  Actually, less likely probably, since nudity here is not viewed quite so puritanically.   In fact, for those so inclined it’s legal to enjoy the national pastime of hiking with absolutely nothing coming between you and nature.  The exception to this, sadly, is canton Appenzell Innerrhoden where this became so popular that in 2009 they voted to disallow it.  Too much of a good thing I suppose.