I was in the crowd the night some of the freshman football players heckled Garrison Gibbons, among other cast members. The moment Gibbons opened his mouth, the jeering began. Homophobic slurs filled with vitriol became the dialogue of the production.
But why? Why did some of our freshman football players feel the need to ridicule a fellow classmate? A better question is why does anyone feel the need to ridicule someone because of their sexuality?
I wondered if the football players thought they could just do whatever they wanted to do without repercussions. I wondered if they felt invincible and above the law. In my opinion, lack of maturity, stupidity, insensitivity and a feeling of quasi-invincibility led the football players to cause such harm to a fellow classmate.
I was distraught as I wrote this piece. These are the same individuals who, through their efforts on the field, have brought me much happiness during my senior year of college, and yet they have become the source of so much pain for their fellow Ole Miss Rebels theater members. Being able to run a 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds does not excuse you from showing some respect for others. Being able to blow past two defenders and elevate to catch a football does not excuse you from displaying an immense level of ignorance. And, simply put, the helmet that you wear on gameday does not provide immunity from stupidity.
However, we must not hold the football players to a higher standard regarding respectfulness than we do ourselves.
Every single one of us has to continually make improvements in our individual actions to ameliorate these types of incidents from happening.
To fairly address the situation at hand, it is important to note that some of the freshman football players in attendance did not participate in the utter buffoonery. One of them sat on the second row with me, one sat in the row in front of me, and the other sat in the row behind me. Most of the heckling was done by the players who sat near the back of the audience.
It is unfair to distribute negative criticism to the entire freshman class of football players, the entire Ole Miss football team and more importantly the entire Ole Miss student population. We just celebrated the inaugural Creed Week (which was not picked up by Yahoo! or other major sites), which focuses on tenets of the Ole Miss Creed. Nevertheless, I bet I can name a few students who did not come to any of the events.
I am not sure when people will realize that our country and the world at large have come to expect instances like this to come from our students. Is it fair that we are judged by our troubled past? No. But since we are, we have to always go above and beyond to display tolerance, acceptance, inclusivity and respect for all of our campus members.
I recall watching several pregame speeches given by Coach Hugh Freeze – many are powerful, inspiring speeches. He often talks about the football players playing out of love for one another and not for themselves. He also talks about how players should measure their individual success by how much they did to make the man next to them successful. Though the play was not in Vaught-Hemingway, the principles that Coach Freeze preaches should apply not only to the football players, but also to all students.
While the temporary amnesia shown by the football players in regard to the principles Coach Freeze instilled in them is quite embarrassing and hurtful, this moment can be a learning one. The heckling and harm has been done — you cannot change that. But what you can change are the attitudes you display toward individuals who are different from you. You can grow up and not be childish during theatrical performances.
Sadly, some of the Ole Miss freshman players lost the day on Oct. 1. To be honest, we all lose every day we allow and sometime silently approve of injustices. Going forward, the focus should be not on who said something, but rather on what was said and why. This is greater responsibility we all have to answer to.
In closing, we have been blessed to see another day in which we can win. And by winning, I mean showing respect and dignity for everyone.
Tim Abram is a senior public policy leadership major from Horn Lake.
