The “Laws” of Jaunte

It’s a code of conduct that originated in Danish fiction. It was first written by Aksel Sandemose in his book A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks. Here are the ten rules:

You’re not to think you are anything special.

You’re not to think you are as good as we are.

You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.

You’re not to imagine yourself better than we are.

You’re not to think you know more than we do.

You’re not to think you are more important than we are.

You’re not to think you are good at anything.

You’re not to laugh at us.

You’re not to think anyone cares about you.

You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Again, originally intended as satire and criticism of society it has, however, somewhere along the line it shifted to shame anyone who dares to challenge the status quo. For anyone who is standing out, Jaunte Law is entrenched in the culture to remind ruckus makers to fit in.

It’s a good reminder that we do all sorts of things in our behavior without even realizing why we do them. Why does someone go out of their way to squash someone else’s dreams? Because someone once squashed theirs. We all crave innovation. Pick up any business magazine and you can find an article about how to innovate. And yet, we scoff when anyone comes up with an idea that just feels different from what we are used to.

Laws only work when we agree upon them and are enforced by the state. What we must understand is that what is written is not the same as fighting the laws of gravity.