On his spring break trip to Key West, Smith Meyers, the current student body president-elect of the University of Florida, got drunk to the point of losing control. He toppled over two motorcycles in a violent rage, attempted to steal scooters, entered a fistfight, didn’t recognize where he was, and ended up arrested for criminal damage. He could have also been charged for public intoxication, but Alyson Crean, a spokesperson from the Key West Police, claimed that the city’s officers use “discretion” when determining charges against college students, and that they “[didn’t] want to ruin this kid’s life for knocking over a couple of bikes.” This sympathy is practically irrelevant, however, as the police aren’t the ones responsible for what occurred. Meyers’ choices over the break will likely lead to consequences in his college and professional careers, and if his life is subsequently “ruined,” it will be of his own doing.
Following his arrest, students formed a petition and a protest calling for Meyers’ resignation; the latter which evolved into a counter-protest with students standing by Meyers and making off-topic jokes to detract from the initial cause. A few memes were made, including a video satirizing the incident and Meyers’ initial election, and another video of Meyers dancing (and flying over to Key West) to a Bag Raiders song, “Shooting Stars.” To top it all off, so many editorials (1, 2, 3), opinions (4), and letters to the editor (5, 6, 7 in response to 4, and 8), were published by our largest school newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, within a span of just four days. Our school’s chapter of The Odyssey Online chronicled the tale as well. And, naturally, the Crocodile, UF’s variation of The Onion, penned its own parody.
With such a sudden influx of content and debate, I was apprehensive about writing my own piece on the topic. I felt that much of what needed to be said up until this point had already been stated, rehashed, and then probably formed into yet another meme for the UF Facebook groups. However, this is not simply to be another voice in a vast sea of alcoholic regret and heated discussion. Instead, I hope to bring a new perspective to light.
This should teach us all about the real meaning of character.
Ironically, Meyers’ campaign slogan was “Character That Counts.” In his official statement following his arrest, Meyers stated that he had acted “out of character.” But how does anyone define “character” to begin with?
Meyers has many positive traits, as well as past accomplishments. However, an essential level of goodness does not automatically undo the damage caused by his mistakes.
In order to be forgiven for wrongdoing, an individual must repent. And in this case, true repentance will need to involve Meyers taking personal responsibility for his actions, rather than shifting the blame to a drunken alter ego. In the opinion of many students, this process must involve resignation. But a question still remains: Even if we cannot excuse him as a student leader, can we excuse him for being human?
As we all know, humans make mistakes. However, there’s likely a gap between, say, screaming at someone over a pile of dirty dishes, and shattering one of those dishes against a wall. In the former case, an apology may be the most to offer. In the latter case, there’s an expectation to replace (or otherwise compensate for) the broken dish. In either case, there will be some sort of emotional scar. But how can we measure that scar? We believe there’s a gap between the two scenarios, but how can we measure that gap? While one person might be more frightened by the shocking crash of broken ceramic, another might be more affected by the sting of angry words. As these situations are evaluated and further questions arise, the discussion would transition into an ethical debate.
The issue with Meyers’ statement of counting character is that he never defined what standards that character was being counted by. Without a defined standard, I may as well count his character on my ten little fingers. Yes, this phrase made for a catchy title, but where am I going with this finger metaphor? It’s silly. There’s no real standard of measurement here. My statement has no meaning. And that is precisely its point.
“When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” Someone who puts their character away on a vacation (literally, a vacation in the Keys in this case) lacks integrity. Regardless of how Meyers defines (or doesn’t define) character, he does not have a consistency of character.
We each have the capacity for good and for bad. Unlike animals, humans have a higher level of consciousness that allows for them to discern differences between the two. We can make deliberate decisions. In Meyers’ case, he had the choice to refuse further drinks once he began to feel tipsy. But instead, he chose to give in, ultimately relinquishing his sense of control. Yes, Meyers does have an essential goodness. But he also has an essential negative aspect of himself, and he chose to feed that darker side. It is indeed a very human mistake. However, a person who has a clear standard of character will try to avoid situations that could potentially compromise their integrity.
We might not know exactly what sorts of ethics Meyers (or the Student Government party that continues to back him) follows. However, as individuals, we should each know what sorts of ethics guide our own lives. As I previously explained in my example with the dishes, ethics themselves are debatable. Theoretically, I could sit down with Meyers right now, and he might argue why, in his personal code of ethics, an incident such as his does not necessarily warrant a resignation from student government. He might try to excuse himself as a student leader and as a human. But I’d argue that my own code of ethics deems it unacceptable to embarrass anything I represent, which is limited not only to myself but also to my religious and ethnic background, my family, and my university and subsequent involvement within. In my code, the cat is never truly away – it is always looming above. It does not take vacations. It is always there.
That said, I must admit to this: My personal cat is kind of ashamed that I’ve laughed at the memes, many which feature Meyers’ mug shot. I’ve tried to argue back excuses, but each one has only led me to consider further questions. Are the jokes truly harmless fun, or do some of them begin to undermine his humanity?
The problem is, while the university itself does have its codes of conduct, we as a student body don’t have a clear ethical standard to tell us what is morally right or wrong. As long as no one is physically harmed, it appears that we can crank out all the memes we want. But are they leading us toward good? Are we allowed to continue to bully him into resignation, or are we putting ourselves on the same unhelpful and disrespectful level as the counter-protesters with their mocking signage? Have we crossed any lines, and if so – where are they?
Free speech is a double-edged sword, and its safe use mandates a strong sense of responsibility. However, we don’t appear to have a defined ethical boundary for our speech, leaving us drowning in the gray areas between right and wrong.
Without such a boundary, anything goes.
When I try to count my character against the gray, I find myself relying on my ten little fingers. I follow after my own heart and eyes, and go astray.
I do excuse Meyers for being human. I excuse all of us. But that doesn’t mean I’m not ashamed. Right now, we are all standing naked outside the Garden of Eden. Meyers has bitten into a forbidden fruit, and, as someone eloquently phrased it in one of those Alligator articles, we subsequently became “a campus divided over a sloppy night.” How sloppy, exactly? That’s up for debate, but I’ll say this – a simple apology cannot repair a broken dish.
At this point, the best that each of us can do is work toward repairing our wrongs. We must continue to call for the replacement of the corruption in our student government’s leadership. In the bigger picture, though, our largest responsibility is in replacing the corruption within ourselves.
We must all be the leaders. We must always consider the good, and strive to choose it under any circumstance. We must define our character upon it, no matter what. Otherwise, the consequences will only be of our own continual doing.
A community cannot truly improve unless each member takes on the advancement of good over evil as their own personal obligation––and obligation does not take vacations.