Many people often have concrete opinions on how the world should work, but do not want to inconvenience themselves by living according to these truths that they believe in. We spent the week disusing how morals and laws relate to each other, and most of us generally agreed that just because something was against the law, didn't necessarily make it immoral or wrong. Thoreau explains in "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" that ,"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right" (Thoreau 1017). He is trying to say that it is more important to follow your morals than the law, because morals are subjective, varying from person to person, place to place, and from time to time. In history, there have been many examples of laws that are unjust, and by today's societies standards, very wrong. One of the best known examples of this was in early America, not even one hundred years ago, when people of color were not allowed basic rights as a citizen, including the right to vote and the right to use the same facilities as white people. Though these laws seemed reasonable and moral at the time they were made, in the modern day these laws are looked at with disgust and reprehension. If we had never had people willing to break the law in a peaceful manor, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, it would have taken much longer to make crucial steps towards equality and a better nation.
Nick you make an important point that laws are written to a specific time period. This nation would not be where it is today if people did not stand up for what they believe is right. As you pointed out, Rosa Parks was brave enough to break the law in order to establish her rights. Similarly, Colin Kaepernick is refusing to stand up for the national anthem to bring attention to the point of the inequality in our nation.
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