When the System Questioned Its Own Ways
Learning that the practices accepted within one part of a system may conflict with the rules governing the whole.
MY YOUNG ADULTHOOD
When the System Questioned Its Own Ways
During my years in a residential military training institution, I began to understand what we call the SYSTEM.
It had written rules. It also had practices followed within smaller groups, including my squadron. I followed a squadron practice that the authorities regarded as an aberration. My conduct had consequences, and I lost six months of seniority.
From where I stood, I had followed the system I knew. From the authorities’ perspective, I had acted against what the larger system permitted.
That distinction was difficult to absorb.
I began to see that a system has behaviour of its own, shaped by the people within it. What becomes customary is not necessarily authorised. Acceptance within a group does not remove individual responsibility.
Nothing is perfect. An institution can demand discipline while carrying contradictions in its own practices.
The experience taught me the strength of knowing the written rules and regulations. “This is how we do things here” deserves examination before I make it the basis of my conduct.
It was an early, costly lesson in understanding the system within which I was trying to find my place.
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