“Who steals my purse steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing/ Twas mine, tis his, and has been slave to thousands;/ But he that filches from my good name/ Robs me of that which not enriches him/ And makes me poor indeed.” Othello, by Shakespeare.I like quotes, and even though I have read Othello several times, I began thinking about what this quote meant when I read it on the internet the other day. It has helped me make a decision that I have struggled with all year: not to streak with the seniors at the senior dinner.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that running naked through campus (private property) is at all a bad thing, or will spoil one’s good name. I’m not doing it for the principle. That being, the tradition of senior streak (as I have heard it told by many Lawrentians past) is that the seniors feel so comfortable with their classmates at the completion of their four years here, that they can run together with no inhibitions totally naked.
I have many close friends, and many acquaintances as well, so I should feel comfortable enough to, right? Not exactly.
I have talked to some freshman girls, and it seems that they were shocked the same way I was as a freshman. This school is so small that the students turn malicious with their judgements of other students, and they sometimes lack respect for one another. As a senior girl, I am still getting awed by people whom I believed to know, in the same way as the freshman girls.
I am not trying to be a moral critic here, because Lord knows the things I’ve partaken in (the freshman girls can vouch for it). And, many probably don’t agree with me (just look at the numbers of people who streak). But, upon completion of my four years here, instead of wanting to stay with my friends and do a naked jaunt across campus, I can’t wait to escape. I don’t think running naked will help that.