The bystander effect, for lack of a better word, sucks.
Regardless of that fact, we all know that it happens to all of us, even though we obviously don't want it too.
For me, the situation is an R.A. thing but the situation is typical nevertheless. I have to be careful though so obviously as to protect anonymity and university laws and obviously stupid junk like that (just kidding it's not stupid). So one Saturday evening whilst hanging out in the lobby of my residence hall I came across something not that unusual, a drunk student. This student was wobbly and kind of talking at nothing. When I asked him if he lived here he said that he's waiting for a friend and then proceeded to sit down. At that point I left, assuming that if anything happened that the O.A.s would call the R.A.s on call. That was my mistake. I should have made sure he was not ridiculously plastered and waited for his friend to arrive, to see the condition they were in.
Basically, I felt like a rear. It's my job as a good person and a good R.A. to look out for people like that especially when no one else can. I think its the responsibility of everyone to look out. Of course there have been instances when I did, but one mistake overshadows a lifetime of successes.
This easily applies to the Greek Community. By being a bystander to your Brothers or Sisters you're leaving them to fail, get hurt, or worse...This doesn't have to apply solely to just drinking. People do dumb stuff all the time, and for those of us who can see how dumb those things are we need to tell them and make sure they know that. Just by being a bystander this conflicts with our values. Our values of integrity, of honesty, of being the best we can really be. We need to show not only non-Greeks but also the rest of the Greek community that it's important that we look out for each other and everyone around us.
By working to fix our community, we can work to fix other communities and the rest of the world.
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