Obsession as of late...

So like many others our household took the news of Brandon Davies being suspended for the rest of the season pretty tough. I don’t know if there were too many other people as excited about BYU basketball this year than Jared and me. I was ready to book my tickets to Las Vegas and Denver and hoping they would come to Anaheim to play in some championship games. March Madness was just getting started in our home.

And then the biggest downer of all for any BYU fan. A key player didn’t keep his end of the contract with the Honor Code. So many emotions to go through. Are you mad at Davies? Mad at the honor code or the administrators who enforce it? Mad at yourself for getting so excited about BYU? Well we experienced the whole gamet of emotions and exhausted the subject for two days going back and forth on how we really feel about the news.

And in my opinion (after two days of debating the issue) it all comes down to being honest. As a BYU alumn I feel the right thing is happening. There are some key factors a lot of people don’t know about BYU’s honor code.

1. It is for EVERYBODY--Member of the LDS church or not.
2. EVERYBODY signs the Honor Code EVERY year they attend school.
3. Whenever a violation is being reviewed the person is removed from any extracurricular activity throughout the investigation whether it be a Young Ambassador, the principal ballerina, or the star of the basketball team.
4. The Honor Code isn’t meant to be punitive in nature (though most see it that way), it’s goal is to keep harmony with the teachings of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by having a student body live a higher moral law than the world will provide.

Some argue that athletes and other participants of organized programs in the public’s eye get stricter punishments. And that's not true. It just seems that what because while their cases are being reviewed they have to be removed from the program that puts them in the public eye. I guess you could argue that seems more strict, but that is part of the rules... written in black and white and signed on the dotted line. Besides, it's not the punishment that is stricter, it's just more embarrassing because it is public, but anytime you chose to be in the spotlight you are, well, in the spotlight. So your good and bad behavior is seen.

And some argue that others get away with breaking the code and that makes the code unfair. That doesn’t make the code unfair, it just means that some people don’t know what honor means and will have to learn hard lessons later in life. I am sure those who severly cheated the honor code at BYU (I’m not talking about staying out past curfew or not adhearing to the grooming standards) will forever cheat their honor throughout life and will have bigger embarrassments in life than taking a semester off of school to clear up an infraction. But like I pointed out above the Honor Code isn’t meant to be punitive. There aren’t secret agents spying on the students all day and night long. The administration leaves it up to each individual to abide by the principles of the school. And for the majority of the student body they do abide by the rules. Infractions of the Honor Code are not overtly seen around campus and that’s what sets BYU apart from any other school. For the most part, the student body wants to live the standards of the Honor Code, and they do so quietly without being viewed under a microscope day after day and continue to live this way after graduation from BYU.

There is a unique feeling on BYU’s campus that remains there year after year; and every time an alumn visits it’s campus they are brought back to those innocent care-free days of being a young 20 something at BYU. Maybe that feeling is what every alumn feels (a sense of nostalgia) when they visit their alma mater, but I’d like to believe that BYU’s feeling is unique and far superior to any other campus because it stands for truth and righteousness. I know that may sound a little cheesy, but it is just my opinion.

I look back on my days at BYU with great memories and a quiet reverence for the change it made in my life. Every person that attends BYU for the right reasons leaves that university with a better sense of who they are. Maybe it was the Honor Code or maybe it was my upbringing or maybe a little of both, but I view myself as a very honest person in everything I do. Living a life with no regrets is a great way to live each day. And the ability to live a life with no regrets doesn’t mean I am perfect, it means that I confess and make right the mistakes I make.

Go Cougars!