No

by Mary Callaway

Created on: January 12, 2011

Those who use steroids and other performance enhancing drugs should not be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame for three reasons:  a) children look up to adults who excel in their profession – especially, sports figures who are often in the news – moreover, children do what they see their heroes doing; b) taking unethical shortcuts to attain a goal establishes a slippery slope – cheating to get ahead begins to appear to be justifiable for anyone who is struggling to become a professional (in any occupation); and c) those who cheat exhibit a lack of self-pride – achieving a great goal by cheating is far less satisfying then doing it through personal effort and merit while at the same time it is an insult to those who excelled through sheer guts and courage.

Role Models.  Simply stated, all adults, regardless of their fame or anonymity, are role models for children and young adults.  Very young children are curious and trusting and will often mimic their parents or other adults as they grow.  In fact, they don’t initially believe parents or adults will do something wrong or harmful in part because they are still learning right from wrong.  As children grow, they continue to form their consciences while retaining a trust in adults to do the right thing every time.  Older children soon latch on to those sports figures and other adults they truly admire.  They imagine themselves playing as well and in turn, being a hero to someone else.  In the end, they may do what their heroes do in order to be as good, exciting, and successful.  This can include the use of performance enhancing drugs especially if we reward those who have gotten to the top of their sport or set records while using these drugs.

Slippery Slope.  Similarly, young adults who aspire to various professions can come to see cheating as a valid way of getting ahead or avoiding failure because of the example of unethical sports figures.  These young adults may cheat on exams or plagiarize in order to succeed because of a “whatever it takes” attitude.  Think about it – would you want help from a lawyer or doctor who cheated as a student in order to get a degree or license or drive on a bridge built by a civil engineer who cheated?  What about your child’s teacher who cheated to graduate – would you want him or her to teach your child?  In short, when adults in positions of trust and fame seem to succeed or get ahead through any unethical or immoral practice including the use of performance enhancing drugs, they set a standard of mediocrity and failure as an example for all.

Self-pride.  Finally, all role models and heroes should think about their legacy – in other words, they should consider how history will judge them.  By so doing, they may realize they are actually squandering a chance at real and lasting fame for legitimate reasons and true success.  In the long run, doing a job or achieving a goal through personal effort and desire is far more satisfying then cheating to get it.  Ultimately, sports figures who use performance enhancing drugs exhibit a lack of self-pride, a lack of pride in the sport, a lack of pride in teammates and fellow competitors, and worse of all, a lack of pride in all the players who came before them.  As such, not only should they be banned from being elected to the hall of fame but they should be banned from the sport as well.

As a final point, all Halls of Fame are established to honor those who worked hard to achieve greatness or who may have overcome monumental challenges to succeed.  By allowing those who cheated in some way to get into the hall simply insults those who were elected because of personal triumph and effort.  And that is just wrong.

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