In my Wellness class this week, we did an in class poll regarding what we would do if we found ourselves in various sticky situations. One of the situations given was somewhere along the lines of the following: You are the Treasurer for your student organization and have about $300 in your possession from the club. Your friend calls you one Friday night and sounds like he/she's been crying and they tell you they're in jail for driving under the influence and they are a few hundred dollars short of bail. They say they are good for the money and will pay you back as soon as they can, but the only money you have is the money from the club. What would you do?
Almost everyone, except myself and a few others said that they would bail their friend out of jail with the money from the student organization. They justified this with explanations of how they couldn't just leave their friend in jail and that as long as they paid you back, it wouldn't matter because they are your friend. I was blown away by this. My classmates would essentially steal money from a student organization to bail a friend out of jail who could have killed someone while they were out acting recklessly and driving under the influence. It would be a different situation if the money being used to bail the friend out actually belonged to you, but really?! Stealing from the organization that trusts you with their finances?! It was seriously shocking to listen to my classmates list off reasons justifying their answer to this question.
I understand that loyalty is a very important aspect of friendship, but so is being accountable for your actions. It's not justifiable to steal money to bail a friend out of jail when they chose to act inappropriately. What about the loyalty you are supposed to have to your student organization and values of being trustworthy? What is happening to my generations values and integrity?
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I completely agree with your point of view. The first time I read your blog post, I took your classmates side and thought it merely came down to the fact that I would do anything for my friends but as I reread it, I quickly changed my point of view. I agree with you when you say that it isn't right to bail someone out of jail when they did something that could have killed others. I strongly disagree with drinking and driving (I actually wrote a blog about it) and I don't think a person is that good of a friend if they are asking you to risk your position for their dumb mistake. I think the kids in your wellness class need to re-evaluate their morals and beliefs. Good viewpoint and blog idea, Summer Skies!
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