I have here a ruler. It’s the way we measure nearly everything in life. If you are old enough, you remember having one of these in your desk at school, so that you could use it during math class. These wooden rulers now are nearly obsolete. At least in the form we see here. But they haven’t been vanquished from our minds and the way we think about measurement, behavior, and life.

Our word ruler comes from the Latin word "regula,” derived from the verb "rego," meaning "to keep straight, direct, govern, or rule." "Rego" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root word, *hsregeti, meaning "to straighten or make right." A “ruler” creates “standards” for us to determine and “judge” what is acceptable or right –whether it be in mathematics or rule of law –or unfortunately in our concepts of what and …