Occasionally we hear about hazing. Yesterday at Texas stadium the elder players had the rookie " ride " a stuffed horse and carry a backpack to the bullpen. All in good fun. A stark contrast to the hazing on the bus that lead to the death of that young man in the marching band. During my Navy years I was subject to hazing every time I changed commands. Sort of a" welcome aboard " type thing. These rituals have all been officially outlawed. I'm willing to bet that at least some still continue. Some of these hazing practices did carry a risk of injury. I personally never felt like I was in an great danger. Keep in mind you are talking about young men here. Aged 18 to 25 or so for the most part. After you had been in the service for eight or ten years the hazing took on a different complexion. It became more in the lines of a practical joke.
How or why hazing gets elevated to a level to cause permanent injury or death I can not understand. Never happened to me or anyone I served with. Oh, we had a few that cried and complained about it. Needless to say their complaints were not met with caring and understanding. Those emotions don't usually enter an 18 to 25 year old male mind. But that was back in the day. Different times and different attitudes. There were different things you could expect and you just had to deal with it. Putting up some resistance was expected and some force was used. These actions by both parties were tempered. As I said I never saw it get out of hand.
In some ways it was a good thing. The men you were working with got an idea of your character. Were you a good sport ? Did you " play " fairly ? It was a means of gaining acceptance into a fraternity of sorts. Each division on the ship had its' own hazing practices based on the occupation. The deck hands were a rough bunch and so were the engineers. I belonged to the later. If you were an engineer you should expect grease to be involved in the " welcome aboard " package. I won't say exactly were it was placed but you didn't " squeek " when you walked after that.
All that was years ago now. We have moved forward. All these hazing rituals have been outlawed. Violators are in for some serious consequences. Back in my time no one got hurt. The only thing that may be damaged was your pride. You quickly learned however that nobody was immune. You also learned that no matter how big and bad you thought you were you were going down. Seen a few epic struggles in my time. The big man always went done. Of course no weapons of any kind were ever used. No excessive force. Just could clean fun. How did this change ?
Crybabies and complainers that's how. All this touchy feely stuff now days. A polar shift to the genteel. Political correctness. Dignity should be learned and respect earned. You are not born with those qualities. Character requires development. You can not learn those things in school. Conversely they cannot be taught. Life will teach you those things if you are allowed to live it. I think we are becoming too restrictive in our ways. Too many rules.
It is a complex issue to be sure. Still I'll say this. Nothing wrong with a little good clean fun. I'm waiting to see if any groups wants to take issue with this hazing on the baseball field. I won't be surprised if they do.
How or why hazing gets elevated to a level to cause permanent injury or death I can not understand. Never happened to me or anyone I served with. Oh, we had a few that cried and complained about it. Needless to say their complaints were not met with caring and understanding. Those emotions don't usually enter an 18 to 25 year old male mind. But that was back in the day. Different times and different attitudes. There were different things you could expect and you just had to deal with it. Putting up some resistance was expected and some force was used. These actions by both parties were tempered. As I said I never saw it get out of hand.
In some ways it was a good thing. The men you were working with got an idea of your character. Were you a good sport ? Did you " play " fairly ? It was a means of gaining acceptance into a fraternity of sorts. Each division on the ship had its' own hazing practices based on the occupation. The deck hands were a rough bunch and so were the engineers. I belonged to the later. If you were an engineer you should expect grease to be involved in the " welcome aboard " package. I won't say exactly were it was placed but you didn't " squeek " when you walked after that.
All that was years ago now. We have moved forward. All these hazing rituals have been outlawed. Violators are in for some serious consequences. Back in my time no one got hurt. The only thing that may be damaged was your pride. You quickly learned however that nobody was immune. You also learned that no matter how big and bad you thought you were you were going down. Seen a few epic struggles in my time. The big man always went done. Of course no weapons of any kind were ever used. No excessive force. Just could clean fun. How did this change ?
Crybabies and complainers that's how. All this touchy feely stuff now days. A polar shift to the genteel. Political correctness. Dignity should be learned and respect earned. You are not born with those qualities. Character requires development. You can not learn those things in school. Conversely they cannot be taught. Life will teach you those things if you are allowed to live it. I think we are becoming too restrictive in our ways. Too many rules.
It is a complex issue to be sure. Still I'll say this. Nothing wrong with a little good clean fun. I'm waiting to see if any groups wants to take issue with this hazing on the baseball field. I won't be surprised if they do.
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