2
OPINION
The Clarion
Fruity Ethics
COLUMN
Fruit is grown, eaten and used;
however, what do fruit and ethics have
in common? 1 recently heard two sto
ries concerning women and fruit.
A woman shopping at a local
grocery store came to the fruit sec
tion. She saw these beautiful plump
strawberries packaged in individual
containers. She opened several con
tainers and began switching the best
and biggest strawberries to one con
tainer. After she filled the container
over its maximum capacity, she
placed it in her buggy and finished
shopping.
The same grocery store had an
other fruit culprit. A woman and her
small child were strolling through the
store when they approached the
bagged grapes sold by the pound. The
woman placed a bag of grapes in her
buggy next to the child. While the two
were shopping, they ate the grapes
out of the bag. When they arrived at
the check out line, they had eaten over
half of the grapes.
I have not only heard many sto
ries but I have also seen many inci
dents of this type of behavior. There
were two employees of a local dis
count store who were looking at some
fruit colored nail polish. These em
ployees opened up the bottle of nail
polish, painted their nails and placed
the bottle back on the shelf. They
never paid for the nail polish, and they
continue to use items without paying
until today.
When I heard and saw these sto
ries, I was appalled. What has hap
pened to society? Years ago people
would have considered this stealing.
Some people do not even believe this
wrong. I believe that the main reason
for people having this type of behav
ior is many people have the “I” com
plex. No one considers what the ef
fects will be to other people when
they eat or use a few items.
LEH ER ro I HE EDI rORS
BY LENOR.\
MOODY
OPINION
EDITOR
Some individuals only think
about what they want and neeid. They
do not think about the affect it has on
other individuals or the employs of
that company. These individuals be
lieve there is nothing wrong with tak
ing something extra or stealing a
cheap item.
People like these women affect
the next customer that comes along
and buys a package of fruit where half
of the fruit is missing. These people
reduce the end of the year bonuses
for employees. The company cannot
give employees extra money when
the company is paying for what cus
tomers are stealing. The people also
affect the prices by making custom
ers pay the extra amounts to make up
for the theft and higher security.
The taking of few grapes or
strawberries may not seem that sig
nificant. However, if every customer
does this, what would be the result
upon the employs, ethics, prices, se
curity and everything involved in
businesses?
I see ethics being eliminated
from society on a daily basis. Four
teen-year-olds are stealing $5.97
items, people are using nail polish
without paying for it, and women are
switching and eating fruit. My solu
tion to the problem of the eliminated
ethics is finding them again. These
type of people need to forget greed
and remember their not the only one
existing in this society.
THE CLARION
Editorial RnarH
Michelle Crabtree, Chris Fredrickson
Lenora Moody, Rachel Mikaelsen and Jamie Welch
Staff Writers
Advertising Manager
Shannon McGuigan
Managing Rditnr
Helen Bessette
Photographerc
Chris Beauvais
Lindi Lagman
Wendy Byerly
Laura Ferrell
Jesse Janicula
Helen Oland
Ginger Palmer
Lillian Scarpinito
Rene Zeno
Adviser
SaraB. Rader
DEAR EDITORS:
A sector of the athletic de
partment exhibits unexceptable
behavior. I know that this is such
a bold statement to make, but if
given the opportunity, I would
like to explain why I think this is
true. Now, I cannot name the in
dividuals involved and give them
complete anonymity, but I can
name their actions which make
me believe that what they are do
ing is wrong. Some of the things
I have seen throughout the de
partment include people making
fun of other individuals and talk
ing about them behind their
backs, excessive running as a
“punishment,” yelling and public
humiliation, and coming nothing
short of outright telling a person
who and who not to be friends
with. There are two individuals I
know who have displayed this
type of behavior.
One person on many occa
sions has talked about athletes to
other athletes and has made fun
of them behind their backs. This
is not suitable protocol for an au
thority figure. These individuals
should be encouraging and not
berating. I have a serious prob
lem with a person who thinks that
by talking about another indi
vidual behind their back would be
beneficial. Another thing I am
aware of are figures of authority
making their athletes run an ex
cessive amount as punishment for
not doing well in a game. True,
the athletes should take blame for
their losses, but I do not see how
making them run until they are
sick will improve their game.
Another issue I have is with
these same individuals yelling at
others in such a way that it looks
like public humiliation. It is one
thing to yell at an athlete in a game
situation for a play gone wrong,
but this authority figure seems to
cross the line. However much I
admire this individual, I feel they
could go a bit easier. I am also
aware the individual has serious
issues with who and who not the
athlete is friends with. Why? What
harm is it to talk, date and be
friends with a certain individual
the authority figure does not be
lieve is good role model? Unless
this friendship or dating relation
ship is hurting the team, the
athlete’s performance on the field,
or in the classroom, what business
is it of theirs.
I believe the authority in
question holds too much power
over their athletes and what it
comes down to is the almighty
scholarship. We are college stu
dents—not high school students.
We already have our friends
picked out. We are already set in
out ways. We know running until
we are sick is not going to improve
our game. We know if an author
ity figure yells at us, we are prob
ably not going to make the same
mistake again, but at what cost—
the cost of looking stupid in front
of friends and family. We also
know when we hear about indi
viduals talking about their athletes
behind their backs it doesn’t make
them more aware of their mistakes
but ticks them off. I urge these
authority figures to think about
what you are doing. There are
ways to get athletes to do what you
want without all the harsh com
ments and mind games. Work on
coaching wiruiing teams and leave
being college students to us.
NAME HELD BY REQUEST
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