I Resign

Have you ever had a friend tell you a secret and they made you swear never to ever tell a single soul?  How many times have you actually kept that promise?  Go on be honest . . . if you can honestly say every time and not be lying to me, or lying to yourself for that matter, I applaud you and am thoroughly impressed.   What about that time your friend confides in you and divulges information about another person’s wrongdoings… are you at liberty to pass along that information to an authority figure or does that go against the rules of friendship and jeopardize the relationship your friend has with their friend.  I know this all probably sounds really confusing but I am trying to protect the identities and respect other people’s civil liberties.  So, I guess what it comes down to is I am resigning from dishonorable behavior and screwy friendships.    

            For example:  I served on my high school’s honor board for three years.  Our duty and responsibility was to listen to student’s cases in which a major school rule was violated.  One of the more controversial cases we faced my senior year dealt with drinking on an over-seas trip where all the students were of age in that country.  All of the students who participated in the illicit activity (illicit that is in the United States and not Italy where the students were at the time of the violation) were caught and sent before Honor Board.  All of the students, that is, except for one.  This particular individual was questioned in a similar fashion as everyone else however, he chose to deny the fact he participated in the actual consumption of alcohol.  I had heard rumors he was going to lie to our dean of students and was faced with the moral dilemma of “to tell, or not to tell.”  One of my closest friends had confided in me and told me the truth of the matter even though she knew of my responsibilities of serving on Honor Board.  I tossed and turned at night questioning whether or not I should pass on this information or, if I should be a loyal friend and keep my mouth shut.  After a while I just got so frustrated I thought, “What the hell, this one DISHONORABLE individual is causing me this much stress and tension in my life simply because he is DISHONEST and not manning up and accepting the consequences of his actions.”  How is it possible that an individual can make the conscious decision to leave his/her friends high and dry, watch them being punished for something he participated in as well, and get away spot clean with out having any regrets? I know one thing, that is not the kind of friend I would want, that’s for damn sure.

            I guess I should thank this person for affirming my beliefs of what constitutes a good friend and allowing me to recognize once and for all the type of person I DO NOT want to ever be…a lying, deceitful, sleazy friend and human being who puts their own well being in front of their closest friends’ simply because they do not want to accept the consequences of their actions.  I RESIGN once and for all from fraudulent behavior and I personally vow to always be liable for my actions, for better or worse.  I will no longer go through life in a corrupt manner and I hope the rest of you out there will join me in this vow in order to make the world a better, more sincere world.