Orientation (4)

Obedience

By Norische

Obedience is a gray area within an owner/slave relationship. To some owners obedience is blind; a slave has no place to question the command of the owner under any circumstances. To me obedience is unambiguous, it should be well understood that the slave should obey the owner... however; there are always exceptions to every rule.

When a slave accepts a position with an owner the slave's limitations and limits should clearly be out lined in such a manner that no question can be made of the intention of the writer of the contract presented. Once the owner has agreed to the terms of the contract then the both slave and owner should have a clear understanding of what is expected. Anything that is a moral, legal, religious or health issue should be disclosed within the contract and once signed cannot be questioned.

If a slave is so blind as to sign a contract that simply states... The slave has no right to question the owner. The slave owns nothing; all the positions previously owned by the slave now belong to the owner. Any money earned by the slave, or through the efforts of the slave is immediately forfeited to the owner to do with as he or she pleases. The slave must follow all rules set aside by the owner with out question. The slave agrees to accept any punishment decided on by the owner for any transgression, real or perceived without question The slave may not break the contract for any reason; the owner reserves the right to dissolve the contract without need of explanation or fore notice.

… Unfortunately he or she finds himself or herself in a most precarious situation. Obedience is not option at this point it is an absolute. In the above example there is no mention of the owner doing anything that might be legal, or moral issues. Nowhere in the above example is there mention of phobias, or limits. Hence there is no place for negotiations and no place for flexibility. If a slave has claustrophobia there is no place in the above contract that states that both parties agree upon that specific limitation hence the slave has no just cause to refuse an owners wish to cage him or her as a punishment.

The contract is the first reference for obedience. The second reference is the owner's list of rules. Every rule within a house should be written on paper and signed by all parties involved, hence leaving no room for excuses. There can be no question to the meaning or existence to the rule if it is all in black and white. Any questions the slave has should be presented at the time when the rules are presented to the slave, and then the owner can reword or clarify any rule and represent the list for all to sign.

The third reference for obedience is the owner's instructions. When an owner gives an instruction he or she expects their instructions to be followed until such time as another instruction takes precedence. In other words if the owner states that he or she wants to be awakened at 6am each morning, then the slave should consider this an ongoing order and follow it until the owner changes that directive.

The fourth reference for obedience is observation. A slave must observe the owner and make general rules from behaviors or patterns of behavior. In other words the owner always puts one pack of sweet and low in her tea, and never gets anything but Lipton's decaffeinated. To suddenly brink the owner a cup of Earl Grey hot with honey, would be seen as unusual to say the least, disobedient at the worst. If an owner has a preference then the slave should observe the preference until told to do otherwise, or ask prior to making any change in the standard.

Obedience is not just following instructions; it is learning the owner, knowing what's expected of the slave and following through to the best of one's ability.

There is one thing that I would like to point out at this time, A SLAVE HAS NO EXCUSES. A slave has no excuse for disobedience, a slave may have a valid reason but a slave will never have a good excuse. Let me clarify, an excuse is something that a slave thinks up after they have disobeyed. A 'reason' is what a slave uses to clarify why he or she disobeyed. For example, the owner instructs the slave to mop the floor while he or she is at work, the chore does not get done. An excuse would be "I had so many other things to do, I simply did not get around to it". A valid reason would be "We did not have enough Mop and Glo to do the floor, and since you had the car I was unable to go get more."

Obedience is something that everyone expects but few truly understand. There are many levels of obedience and each must be observed equally.

Legal obedience – Laws and ordinances set aside by a court of law, either local, city, county, state, or federal must be obliged at all times. Example: Public nudity. If an owner orders his or her slave to strip nude and walk through the parking lot of Macy's then chances are the slave and more than likely the owner will be arrested. Hence all laws must be observed and obeyed.

Moral obedience – Each individual has a moral code that they observe, and this code is at the very base of his or her existence. If a slave feels that homosexuality is morally wrong then for an owner to demand behaviors that might compromise the slaves personal morals would be considered wrong.

Religious obedience – If an individuals has a religious conviction that demands or restricts certain behaviors then this must be observed by the owner. For example if the slave is an orthodox Jew and cannot do any work what so ever from Friday night sun down until Saturday night sun down, and the owner orders this individual to do something that would compromise this slaves religious conviction then the owner would be considered wrong.

Slave obedience – A slave has a natural level of obedience within them, and most will do everything in their power to perform their duties to the best of their ability, it is this form of obedience that gives them the drive to compromise all other forms of obedience. It is up to the owner to make sure that while obedience is the preferred action, that no order or request compromises the legal, moral, or religious standing of the slave.

One last thing that should be mentioned is safety. No order may endanger the health, both physical and mental, of the slave. Any order that would compromise the safety and well being of the slave should be questioned and considered carefully prior to obeying. A true owner would never knowingly cause harm to their slave, they may hurt them but they will never harm them.

Norische