As a baseball fan I was saddened by the depth of player involvement in the entire steroid mess. While some future Hall of Fame players have seen fit to use, albeit not admit to using, steroids, I hope that baseball can regain it's luster. I understand the argument that steroids cannot make you hit a baseball, they do make you stronger, and improve the fast twitch or reactionary muscles. At least that's what I have read and been told, I don't have any first hand knowledge on the subject.
I guess that the part that sickens me the most is the cavalier attitude towards cheating. Some of the players named in the Mitchell report were locks for the Hall of Fame. I wonder now if some of the sportscasters are correct in asking for a wing or a building to be added to the Hall of Fame for the steroid era. Should these players that put up astonishing numbers, albeit while cheating be allowed into the Hall of Fame with the other immortals of baseball?
As a fan, I don't pretend to be naive enough to think that every player enshrined in the Hall of Fame is perfect. Far from it, they were people with everyday problems like the rest of us, but they didn't cheat the game. I see parallels in life and sport often. As a society, I think we have too many people that believe the ends justify the means. This is wrong! Two or more wrongs cannot make something that is right. As Realtors, if we get caught cheating, we are fined, lose our license, which means our careers, and still are subject to lawsuits and judgements. It doesn't matter if we cheated to try to extend our career one more year or were trying to bounce back from a bad year.
While I agree that it is impossible to punish these baseball players now for indiscretions from the past. I do think that it is time to stop allowing this type of garbage to slide by. This attitude of the ends justifying the means has to stop! We slide ever closer to mediocrity as a nation and a people the longer that we allow this thought process to dictate our actions.
As Realtors, we certainly can't afford to allow it, our livelihood depends on our honesty and integrity. We don't get passes on our licenses when we decide to cheat, we get to find a new way to provide for our families. We certainly will lose our opportunity to be in anyone's Hall of Fame
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Once upon a time, I heard a story about a broker and an agent who were violating the law and the code of ethics. Everyone in the room knew who they were without naming them. The reputation of their office was so bad that there was no second place in that race, just them alone beyond the rest. Being a neophyte, I mentioned that the R was marketed on ethics and asked if organized real estate defended the R or simply rented it out.
The broker and agent have since been arrested, but I think my question is still valid today. As individuals we can do our best to uphold industry standards, but the R code of ethics won't be worth marketing until we have a way of enforcing it to weed out those who act in bad faith. The MLS has stiff penalties because we understand that they are needed to maintain quality data. We need stiff penalties to maintain ethical standards, too.
Frank Jewett
Frank I agree with you our code of ethics need to be enforceable with stiff penalties involved when violations occur. Thanks for commenting.