Chains Are Made to be Broken

I recently sent the folowing comment about promises we make to ourselves that later on prove to be quite impractical, especially promises founded on political protest. Best to read Sunni Maravillosa's full post for the context, but this is what I wrote:

"It is against my self-interest to chain myself."

That's inspirational.

Just as statist bureaucrats and legislators don't have enough information to properly regulate our lives, so it is that not even we, as individuals, have enough information to make rules for ourselves and antipicate every future circumstance. Maybe we should look on a vow as the embracing of a principle, which would and should be followed almost all the time, but can't take into account extenuating circumstances. Principles should summarize our conscience, our values, and our intuition. But when principles stand opposed to the inner core of our being, they just become rules -- chains. And those were meant to be broken.