Breaking the Rules

The Pursuit of Honor gave me a great chance to acknowledge the stress our country has been under the war on terror and the great work from the people who work hard to keep us safe. However, the people who work hardest to keep our people safe are at times the ones who get little recognition. This book is for them.

As Americans we have rules in our everyday life. Rules we must follow on the roads, at home, and in our work place. In Pursuit of Honor I show that in order to do your work successfully at times you must push back against the system. Mark Rapp goes against the rules and break the laws in order to keep the country safe. I show this in chapter 10 when Adams and Hurley are talking. Adams accuses Hurley of breaking the law. Hurley responds, "You're damn right I do. What in the hell do you think it is that the CIA is supposed to do? You think we're supposed to obey everyone's law?" (62). He goes on to say that they have done more than the Senate and the House to protect the country without recognition. Following the book gets in the way of what they are trying to achieve. By keeping Adams, Rapp has broken many laws, but he does what he needs to do in order to do his job, whether legal or not.

There are many different perspectives that shows the truth that people must "break the rules" in order to achieve their goal. With Adams he seems to believe people should never break the rules. However, he wants to expose the CIA and bring down Rapp and in doing so he commits treason and releases classified information. It is interesting on the pursuit of honor everyman must break rules and push back against the system.

This truth works on the audience since everyone can relate to doing something they are not suppose to in order to get ahead. Mark Rapp also does a lot of influencing. Mark Rapp breaks the rules and could care less. He does what is right, not necessarily what is by the book. His attitude of being so casual and confident in his actions make him someone to admire. The audience wants to relate and be a Rapp character them self.

Along with Schmitt "Sovereign is he who decides on the state of exception" which shows that there is always a way around the rules in order to do what is right. When the different people see what is the right way then there are always exceptions to get what is "right". In here I saw Hegel. I felt that when one person had a plan, such as Adams wanting to bring down the CIA and Rapp then the antithesis was created which was Rapp and his guys taking down Adams. They both use the exception in order to do what they both believe is right. They are both moving towards truth and freedom, yet could not do so if they were playing by the rules.