This whole Jameis Winston fiasco makes me sad & mad for young men everywhere.
If you don’t know by now, Jameis is a very famous quarterback at Florida State University. He won the Heisman Trophy last year after leading his team to a national championship. Earlier this week, he was seen on his school campus, standing on a table, yelling, “FU** HER RIGHT IN THE PUS**!” repeatedly while standing on top of a table.
He had a press conference earlier this week & ‘apologized’ to his teammates, his coaches and Florida State University for his selfish act. The team first suspended him for half of tonight’s game, but later extended the suspension to the full game.
Now, say what you want about the suspension itself. Say what you want about what he said. Of course, it’s absolutely horrible timing with everything else going on in the NFL with domestic violence, and Jameis has had other run-ins with the law as well…
But this is the part that infuriates/saddens me the most: The only reason this is an issue is because Jameis’ personal actions violated a team “code of conduct” policy. The only reason this is brought to light is because he is a public figure. The only reason he is remorseful for his actions is because he was disciplined. The only reason he feels bad is because he’s a celebrity college quarterback and is now under the eye of public scrutiny.
But what if he was just a regular young man?
What if he wasn’t a superstar athlete and this didn’t make national headlines and he was just a regular dude on your college campus yelling random obscenities? Would he feel remorseful then? Would he apologize to anyone?
Here’s the problem: Unless men are a part of an institution or organization that is holding us to a personal code of conduct, we don’t give a damn!
Unless someone tells us, “Hey, what you did was wrong,” we don’t have the sense and wherewithal to be remorseful, apologize and strive for positive change within ourselves.
We don’t see the far-reaching implications of our words, Tweets, posts, comments, videos & actions … we’re cool with doing stupid, mindless stuff for a quick laugh.
We don’t take responsibility or accountability for what we do unless someone tells us to! I can’t tell y’all how infuriating this is…
Fellas, brothas, hermanos, bros, dudes, guys – we gotta step it up. A lot.
Make your own personal code of conduct policy that helps you make good, mindful decisions, and guides you to be the young man you want to be.
Don’t wait on someone to tell you that something you did was wrong or offensive or obscene or mindless – be accountable for your actions and be mindful of the implications of everything you do.
Whether you’re a star athlete, a frat boy, an Eagle Scout, a college freshman, a convenience store worker, a bank manager, a lawyer, a trash man, a doctor or just a regular ol’ guy, step it up. Be a man you want to be. Be a man you’re proud of.
Take responsibility and accountability for yourself, fellas. Be a man for once.
