Question

"My right to swing my fist ends, where your nose begins." Elucidate with reference to, ‘On the Rule of the Road’.

Answer 1

Rights are not completely individual affairs. In order to enjoy one’s rights, one has to respect the rights of others too. The lady in Petrograd had the right to walk on the pavement. The right to move stops when the other person’s right to drive starts. A person may have a walking stick and roll it too. But his right just stops where the other person’s nose begins. No one has the right to violate the rights of others. The right, one exercise, must not affect or erode the rights of others. One should not think of one’s own rights but also the rights of others.

A.G.Gardiner beautifully illustrates this idea by emphasizing the metaphor of traffic rules. Rules of the road are in fact rules of politeness and unselfishness. One may have absolute freedom in the choice, of food, religion, fashionable dress, upkeep of hair, funny hairstyle, etc. But one must be conscious of the rights of others. So, the statement “my right to swing my fist ends, where your nose begins” fits well with the central theme of the essay ‘ On the Rule of the Road’.